Real Estate Law Blog

Effective January 1, 2019, developers in British Columbia will be subject to new information collection, reporting and document retention requirements in connection with assignments of purchase agreements in qualifying developments. The new requirements will apply to any five (5) or more strata lots in a stratified building in British Columbia that are marketed for ...

Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act has received Royal Assent and is scheduled to come into force on October 17, 2018.  Canadians will then be able to legally possess, consume and grow recreational cannabis. Bill C-45 enables provinces to establish additional regulations, some of which affect real estate. Here, we highlight the basics of Bill C-45 as well as the approaches British ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal recently weighed in, for the first time, on the interpretation and application of the strata wind-up provisions in Part 16 of the Strata Property Act, (the “Act”).  This is the first appellate decision to consider this aspect of the Act.  It is an important decision because the court confirmed the validity of the practice and procedures for strata ...

In December 2017, Royal Assent was given to Bill 26: An Act to Control and Regulate Cannabis (“Bill 26”).  Bill 26 amends the Gaming and Liquor Act (Alberta) and regulates both the retail sale and commercial distribution of cannabis in Alberta. We are aware that there is a great deal of excitement in this area, with many rushing to be well positioned when legalization ...

The Province of British Columbia is taking steps to ensure that the applicable taxes are paid on assignments of pre-sale condominiums with the introduction of Bill 25 Real Estate Development Marketing Amendment Act, 2018. The goal of the legislation is to collect the applicable tax on such assignments and to generally discourage the assignment of such contracts and reduce ...

The British Columbia government has released further details about the Speculation Tax on residential property announced in the 2018 Provincial Budget (the highlights of which are discussed in our previous blog post). These details clarify the geographic areas the Speculation Tax will apply to, along with rates, exemptions, and credits that may be available to offset ...

A number of the amendments to the Condominium Property Act (Alberta) (the “Act”) that were contained in the Condominium Property Amendment Act, 2014 (the “Amendment Act”) came into force on January 1, 2018, with a second set scheduled to come into force on April 1, 2018. The changes contained in the Amendment Act include a notable increase in the obligations that the ...

Lawson Lundell LLP is pleased to announce that three partners, one associate and two paralegals have recently joined our Calgary office. Shaun Partridge, QC (Partner), Devin Itterman (Partner), Aubrey Guild-Young (Partner), Devlin Steers (Associate), and paralegals Laura Romeo and Brandy Tobin join us from a boutique firm in Calgary where their practices focused on ...

On February 20, 2018, the Hon. Carole James, Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier, introduced the 2018 British Columbia Provincial Budget. Included in the Budget was the NDP’s 30-point plan for housing affordability in British Columbia.

Included in this 30-point plan are the following measures:

1. New Speculation Tax.  In Fall of 2018, the Province will introduce a new ...

In a previous blog post, Nicholas Shon wrote about proposed amendments to the Property Law Act (British Columbia), aimed at restricting ownership of land located within the British Columbia Agricultural Land Reserve (the “ALR”) by “foreign nationals” or “foreign corporations” to a maximum of five acres. 

Alberta has comparable restrictions on foreign ...