Real Estate Law Blog

Bad actors can effect a transfer or mortgage of land without the knowledge or authorization of the registered owner.

Title fraud can befall homeowners as well as owners of commercial or investment property, such as where a scam or rogue director purports to deal in land without bona fide authorization of the full board. For example, in 1264777 B.C. Ltd. v Gill, 2023 BCSC 131

The B.C. Court of Appeal recently released its decision in Findlay v The Owner, Strata ESP401 (“Findlay”) where it states, for the first time, that strata corporations do not have standing to bring a claim against developers on behalf of individual strata unit purchasers for misrepresentation in the developer’s disclosure statements. This case involves an issue of ...

The BC government has announced new legislative changes aimed at strengthening depreciation reports for strata corporations, effective July 1, 2024.

Impact on Strata Owners and Council Members

Depreciation reports provide estimates of the long-term repair and replacement costs of a strata corporation’s shared property and assets. Previously, obtaining these ...

On April 25^th, the Province enacted a flipping tax on residential property (the “Flipping Tax”), as previously mentioned in the 2024 Budget (summarized in our blog post here). The Flipping Tax, will to apply to dispositions of residential properties (including mixed use properties) in B.C. beginning on January 1, 2025.

The Province states that the purpose of the ...

On February 29, 2024, Alberta’s Minister of Finance announced Alberta’s 2024 Budget, and in connection with this announcement, the Government of Alberta published its Fiscal Plan for the 2024 – 2027 period. In this Fiscal Plan, the Province outlined their proposal for the introduction of what they are calling a new “Land Titles Registration Levy”, which ...

On February 22, 2024, British Columbia’s 2024 Budget was introduced. Included in the Budget are the following measures relating to real estate taxes:

[1] New Home Flipping Tax: The home flipping tax will apply to income from the sale of certain residential property sold on or after January 1, 2025 that was owned for less than 2 years. The tax rate will be 20% for properties ...

On February 4, 2024, the federal government announced its intention to extend, by two years, the ban on foreign ownership of residential property, which first came into force on January 1, 2023. Under subsection 237(2) of the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No. 1 (the “Budget Implementation Act”), the ban was originally set to be repealed on January 1, 2025 (meaning ...

Through various pieces of new legislation, British Columbia (the "Province") is pursuing some of the most significant changes to housing policy in decades.

Developers can expect their negotiations with municipalities for development approval of residential projects to be significantly affected by the following:

• Housing Statutes (Residential Development ...

On October 24, 2023, the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued a decision finding that additional property transfer taxes of $6,000,000 were payable on a residential property. Both the registered and beneficial owners of the property in question were British Columbia companies and the individuals at the top of the structure were Canadian permanent residents. The ...

B.C. Supreme Court allows claim against government for damages for improperly cancelled project

Most development in B.C. requires approval by government, whether through permitting, rezoning, subdivision approval, or licencing. That process often appears opaque to applicants. Denials, which can effectively terminate a project, can be given with little or no ...