The property law amendment introduced Monday will help create the framework for a protection period for home buyers to properly evaluate, finance and inspect the home they want to buy, Finance Minister Selina Robinson said. The changes, which will become law later this spring, will serve to provide better protection for home buyers who want to make one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives in the province’s hot real estate market, he said. Robinson said the regulations would set a time limit for buyers to opt out of a real estate deal and would include any potential financial costs involved in withdrawing a bid. He said he was aware of situations where home buyers felt intense pressure to make a purchase and decided not to do a home inspection to secure the sale, with unfortunate results. “There have been, honestly, what I have heard are horror stories of people shopping, the biggest financial decision of their lives, only to find that they need hundreds of thousands of dollars more because it is unsustainable and requires significant work and they did not know it.” Robinson told a news conference after the changes were introduced. The legislation will give shoppers time to think about what they are buying and do a home inspection, Robinson said. The duration of the withdrawal period and the potential financial cost of withdrawing from a purchase agreement have not yet been determined. A real estate expert said the government’s relaxation plan would not facilitate affordable housing in the province and could put sellers at a disadvantage. Professor Tsur Somerville at the University of BC’s Sauder School said Monday that the changes would give buyers more time for due diligence, but could also allow buyers to make bidding without consequences, putting the seller at a disadvantage. “You have to set it up in such a way that a lot of money is at stake if someone pulls out of a deal.” Somerville said the legislation would not make housing less expensive. “If you think this is going to be affordable, this is not the kind of path you should take.” Robinson said the regulations are more about protecting home buyers. “The aim is not to tackle affordable housing immediately,” he said. Opposition Liberal Housing critic Mike Bernier said the government has passed legislation that lacks detail, while doing little to improve the affordability of housing. “We need a plan to stabilize housing and create more supply, a plan that will allow people to still have the dream of owning a home,” he said in a statement. The president of the BC Association of Municipalities Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said in a statement that the organization supports the protection regulations. A report last month by the BC Real Estate Association warned against introducing a withdrawal period for home buyers, saying it would cause more problems than it solves, including uncertainty for sellers. This Canadian Press report was first published on March 28, 2022.
