A withdrawal period would give buyers a limited amount of time to change their minds and cancel a purchase with little or no legal consequences. The county will introduce what it calls a home buyer protection period later this year, after amendments to the property law were introduced on Monday. The changes will allow the province to introduce a relaxation period designed to protect people buying homes in BC’s overheated real estate market. A withdrawal period would give buyers limited time to consider their offers, secure financing, receive a home inspection, and cancel a purchase. It is an attempt to address concerns that prospective buyers are being pressured to bid on unconditional homes to ensure they have a chance to buy in a highly competitive market. The province has not said what the withdrawal period will be or what the financial cost of withdrawing an offer will be. “People need protection as they make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives,” said Finance Minister Selina Robinson. “In our overheated housing market, we have seen buyers feel pressured to give up terms that just need to be taken into account, and new homeowners discovering costly problems only after a deal is reached. “We want to ensure that people who buy a home have the time to get the information they need to make the right decision within limits that still give sellers the confidence they need to close sales.” The legislation allows for regional variations within the province, based on variations in the housing market. The BC Financial Services Authority has consulted with stakeholders in the real estate industry, including home auditors, appraisers, real estate agents, academics and representatives from the legal and financial services sectors. This analysis is expected this spring. Industry representatives estimate that more than 70 percent of bids in BC’s most competitive markets, such as Victoria, over the past year may have been made unconditionally. The BC would be the first province to apply a period of protection from home buyers to resale real estate and newly built homes. Seven-day withdrawal periods for sales prior to the construction of multi-unit development properties, such as condominiums, have already entered into force under the Real Estate Development and Marketing Act. In an effort to prevent the province from imposing a period of relaxation on housing markets, the BC Real Estate Association recently released a white paper offering the government alternatives for protecting consumers in the midst of a hot housing market. Among its 30 recommendations, the document proposes creating a five-day, no-bid period – what the industry calls a pre-bid period – once a property is listed that would give buyers time to research a property before making a bid. . creating a more transparent process for real estate where there are many offers; making asset declarations mandatory and available when a property is registered; making all mattress documents available; Helene Barton, executive director of the Home Inspectors Association BC, says every BC home buyer should have the opportunity to “conduct their own pre-purchase diligence and avoid the high risk of buying without a home inspection”.
