Surrey, British Columbia
Most property deals go wrong on a date, not a price
This is the chain a British Columbia purchase actually runs on: what happens at each point, who is responsible for it, and what it costs you when it slips.
- Typically · you
Subject removal
The date your conditions come off and the deal becomes firm. Financing, inspection and strata document review all have to be done by now. Your contract sets this date, not us.
If it slipsThe contract can collapse. If you are not ready, the extension has to be agreed in writing before the deadline passes rather than after.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Set by law
Rescission period ends
The home buyer rescission period set by the Property Law Act, which runs from acceptance and lets a buyer back out of a residential purchase on payment of a fee. It applies whether or not anyone mentions it.
If it slipsThis one does not slip. It runs from acceptance on a fixed basis and cannot be extended by agreement.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · you
Your file opens with us
We receive your contract, verify your identity, and check the completion, possession and adjustment dates against each other. The earlier this happens the more room there is to fix anything.
If it slipsEverything downstream compresses. A file that opens late is the most common reason a completion runs tight.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · us
Title search and strata documents ordered
We search title for what is registered against the property, and on a strata we order the Form B and the associated records. This is where anything unexpected surfaces.
If it slipsA charge nobody knew about, found late, is a much bigger problem than the same charge found early.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · your lender
Lender instructions received
Your lender sends us their mortgage instructions and we prepare the documents. They arrive on the lender's schedule rather than ours, so we chase them instead of waiting.
If it slipsThis is the single most common cause of a late completion. We will tell you as soon as a date looks at risk rather than on the morning it fails.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · you
Document signing
You sign the transfer, the mortgage and the statement of adjustments, at our office, at yours, or remotely anywhere in the province. Bring identification.
If it slipsSigning has to happen with enough room to get documents where they need to be. Tell us early if you will be away.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · you
Funds to our trust account
Your balance of funds arrives by bank draft or wire. Never by email instruction, and never in response to a message that changes our banking details.
If it slipsWithout cleared funds we cannot complete. This is a hard stop rather than a soft one.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · us
Completion
We register the transfer and the mortgage at the Land Title Office, the money is released to the seller's lawyer, and the property becomes yours.
If it slipsRegistration and the release of funds happen in a set order. A late advance can push completion to the next business day, and your contract governs what that means for you.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file - Typically · your realtor
Possession
The day you can physically move in and collect the keys. Frequently the day after completion rather than the same day.
If it slipsPossession is set by your contract. Confirm the key handover arrangement with your agent rather than assuming it.
Your contract sets these dates. Everything between them is our work: the searches, the lender's instructions, the signing, the registration.
Start your file
Set by lawStandard practice, typically
Select a milestone for what happens there, and what it costs if it slips.
General information based on standard practice in British Columbia. Your contract governs your actual dates. This is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
What goes wrong
Five things that put a completion date at risk
None of them are dramatic, and none of them are about money. Each one is somebody waiting on somebody else.
- 01
Your lender sends instructions late
Mortgage instructions arrive on the lender's schedule rather than anybody else's, and nothing can be prepared for signing until they land. This is the single most common reason a completion runs tight.
We chase the lender, not you
- 02
A payout statement does not arrive in time
On a sale, every registered charge has to be paid out and discharged. Each lender sets its own turnaround for producing the statement, and some are slow enough to put a completion date at risk on their own.
We request these early rather than in the final week
- 03
Something is registered against the title that you had forgotten
An old secured line of credit, a builder's lien, or a charge a former lender never discharged. It has to be cleared before the sale completes, and the difference between finding it early and finding it late is the difference between a phone call and a crisis.
The title search finds it, and the earlier the better
- 04
Strata documents are read after subjects come off
A depreciation report, a pending special levy or a rental restriction can change what a property is worth to you. Once your conditions are removed, knowing about it does not help.
Order them early and read them before you commit
- 05
Funds are not where they need to be
Completion needs cleared funds in a trust account, not a transfer in flight. Wire fraud in property transactions also tends to arrive as an email changing the banking details at the last moment, which is why we confirm those with you directly and never by email.
Confirm any change of banking details by phone, on a number you already have
Where to start
Find the page for your situation
You are buying
An accepted offer, with or without a mortgage. What we do between subject removal and the keys, and what we need from you to get there.
Buying a homeYou are selling
Clearing what is registered against your title, transferring it, and getting your proceeds. Most of the work is the discharges.
Selling a homeYou are refinancing
Replacing one mortgage with another, or discharging one entirely. Payout statement timing governs the whole file.
RefinancingYou are making a will
Who administers your estate, who receives it, and who raises your children. Without a will, legislation decides all three, the same way for everybody.
WillsYou are appointing someone to act for you
A power of attorney for your property and finances, a representation agreement for your health and care. Without them, the alternative is an application to the court.
Powers of attorneyYou are separating
Separation is not a filing. A set of consequences begins to run from the day one of you decides the relationship is over, whether or not anyone has spoken to a lawyer.
Separation and divorceThe first question
Do you need a lawyer, or will a notary do?
On a straightforward resale with clean title, either can do the job properly. The difference is scope, and some deals stop being straightforward with very little warning. We wrote the comparison honestly, including where a notary is the sensible choice.
Practice areas
The work we do
Each page sets out what we do, what we need from you, and the two or three things that actually derail that kind of file.
- Buying a homeTaking a signed contract of purchase and sale through to registered title and keys in your hand.
- Selling a homeClearing what is registered against your title, transferring it to the buyer, and getting you your proceeds.
- RefinancingPaying out and discharging your existing mortgage, and registering the new lender's charge in its place.
- Transferring titleChanging who is registered as an owner: adding a spouse, removing a former partner, gifting a share, or correcting a name.
- Private saleA purchase or sale with no realtor on either side, where the work an agent normally absorbs has to be assigned to someone.
- Presale assignmentSelling your rights under a presale contract to someone else before the building completes.
- New constructionCompleting on a presale or a newly built home, where the developer sets the date and the contract sets almost everything else.
- Independent legal adviceAdvice from a lawyer who acts only for you, on a document someone else has asked you to sign.
- Separation and divorceEnding a relationship in law: the date it happened, what has to be resolved, and how the marriage is formally brought to an end.
- Separation agreementsA written agreement that settles property, debt, support and parenting, made before, during, or at the end of a relationship.
- Parenting arrangementsWho is a guardian, who makes which decisions, when the children are with each parent, and how child support is worked out.
- Property and debt divisionWorking out what is shared, what is excluded, what is owed, and how it is actually divided and implemented.
- WillsNaming who administers your estate and who receives it, in a document that holds when it is needed.
- Powers of attorneyAppointing someone to manage your property and finances if you cannot, and setting the limits on what they may do.
- Representation agreementsAppointing someone to make health and personal care decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself.
