Real Estate Law Blog

A recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada will be of interest to those who hold rental property for the long term and who incur expenses related to the zoning of that property. The Tax Court found that such expenses were deductible for tax purposes, and were not required to be capitalized to the cost of the property.

Background

The Income Tax Act (“Act”) distinguishes ...

What happens when a strata unit owner’s right to privacy conflicts with the need for common property repairs? Generally, the unit owner will lose out to the strata council, provided the strata council acts reasonably and for a legitimate purpose. This is one of the downsides of strata living: you are not really the king of your castle. Your personal interest may need to give ...

The Province introduced the Guide Dog and Service Dog Act, in the Legislature on March 12, 2015. If it is passed, it will replace the Guide Animal Act.

The proposed Act and accompanying regulations address access rights for individuals who rely on guide dogs or service dogs, while ensuring clarity and safety for businesses and other members of the public. In particular, the ...

Earlier this year the BC Government introduced Bill 3-2015, the Building Act in an attempt to establish more consistent and standardized building requirements throughout the Province (with the exception of buildings located in the City of Vancouver and in or on mines).

The BC Government has explained that the Building Act proposes to:

• Streamline Building Requirements

It is common practice in lease negotiations for the parties to begin by informally negotiating the major lease terms. When the parties reach consensus on these major terms, they execute an offer to lease.  Such offer may be binding or non-binding.  A binding offer to lease is a contract itself and is enforceable.  Both parties should carefully consider whether they want the ...

Does the conduct of your neighbour adversely affect the use and enjoyment of your property?  Is your neighbour immune to reasonable requests to moderate his behaviour to lessen that impact?  Are the local authorities unwilling to assist you in resolving the problems?  This can be very frustrating and detrimental to the welfare of you and your family.  If the matter is of little ...

A recent case from the BC Supreme Court has highlighted yet again that a guarantee or indemnity of a lease (here now referred to as an “Indemnity”) does not necessarily assure payment to a landlord following a default by a tenant.  The terms of the Indemnity must be carefully scrutinized and examined to determine if the specific circumstances outlined in the document are ...

There are many benefits to living in a strata, but there can also be problems. One such problem can be raising money to pay for building repairs. This is usually done by way of a special levy requiring owners to pay their proportional share of the expected cost.  A special levy is in addition to monthly dues and can, in serious cases, be a lot of money.  The imposition of a special levy ...

Many land developers arrange to sell lots in a proposed development before the subdivision is completed.  The vendor benefits from the promise of confirmed future sales and non-refundable deposits.  Purchasers benefit from lower prices for purchasing early.  However, what happens if the land development is delayed.  Can a purchaser get a non-refundable deposit back?

The ...

In the beginning of 2014, the CRA issued GST/HST Notice No. 284 – Bare Trusts, Nominee Corporations and Joint Ventures announcing that as of January 1, 2015, it will no longer allow joint ventures to elect for a nominee corporation or a bare trustee corporation to be the operator of a joint venture where such nominee or bare trustee does not have an ownership interest in, or ...