Real Estate Law Blog

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 ...

In an effort to slow a then-frothy residential real estate market, the Province adopted amendments to the Property Law Act on April 25, 2022 to establish a new homebuyer rescission regime in B.C. These amendments provide buyers of residential real estate with a mandatory “cooling-off period” following execution of a purchase agreement, giving them more time to ...

The proverbial ground is shifting beneath the feet of lenders, mortgage brokers and administrators in British Columbia with the introduction of the new Mortgage Services Act (the “MSA”) by the B.C. legislature on October 4, 2022.

Expected to come into force in late 2023, the MSA replaces the current (and arguably outdated) Mortgage Brokers Act (the “MBA”) by ...

If you are a land owner in British Columbia, you may have recently received a letter from the province’s Land Owner Transparency Registry (“LOTR”) indicating the need to file a transparency report by November 30, 2022.

Effective November 30, 2020, the British Columbia Land Owner Transparency Act (“LOTA”) came into force. LOTA is intended to increase land ...

In a recent decision, the B.C. Supreme Court confirmed the validity of a relatively common form of allocation of parking stalls and storage lockers in condominium developments.

The case One West Holdings Ltd. v. The Owners, Strata Plan LMS 2995 (“One West”) involved a strata development in Vancouver. During the development process, but before the strata plan was ...

The B.C. government announced on November 2, 2021 that it will be extending the deadline for pre-existing owners to file with the Land Owner Transparency Registry, giving reporting bodies with an interest in land more time to file a transparency report without incurring penalties.

The Province has heard from lawyers (including Lawson Lundell lawyers) and others that ...

As of November 30, 2020, any landowner or tenant applying to register certain interests in land (a transfer or certain leases) also had to file a transparency declaration with the Land Owner Transparency Registry (“LOTR”). Each transferee that is a “reporting body” as defined by the Land Owner Transparency Act (“LOTA”) also had to file a transparency report ...

Your Comprehensive Guide to Compliance with the Land Owner Transparency Act (British Columbia)

Note: You can read the full article below or you can download a pdf version here. 

British Columbia’s Land Owner Transparency Act, SBC 2019, c 23 (“LOTA”) will come into force on November 30, 2020. At the same time, British Columbia’s new beneficial ownership registry ...

On September 20, 2020, the Province of British Columbia confirmed by Order in Council that most of the provisions of the Land Owner Transparency Act, SBC 2019, c 23 (“LOTA”), will come into force on November 30, 2020. The Province also released the Land Owner Transparency Regulation (the “Regulation”), which will come into effect concurrently with LOTA. The ...

This is the first in a series of articles to be published by Lawson Lundell on the subject of the BC Government’s Land Owner Transparency Act (British Columbia) (“LOTA”).

In 2018, the B.C. government released a White Paper on LOTA which set out a draft legislative framework for the introduction of a publicly accessible registry (the “Registry”) for the disclosure ...