BC Contract of Purchase and Sale (Generic Template)

What Is BC Contract of Purchase and Sale?

The BC contract of purchase and sale is a document that contains the main aspects of the agreement between seller and buyer during the real estate purchase. It is not a government form. Most buyers and sellers in BC use the standard form jointly developed by the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) and the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBABC). It contains information on the price of the purchase, details on the deposit, and deadlines. It also informs both parties of their duties and abilities.

The buyer signs the offer and the seller signs to accept it; if the seller signs the buyer's offer without changes, a legally binding contract is formed. Keep a copy of the signed contract for your records. The template on this page is a generic contract, not the standard BCREA/CBABC form: it does not identify BCREA or CBABC as its author and has no form number, and it has no home buyer rescission period disclosure. For a purchase covered by BC's Home Buyer Rescission Period (see below), the buyer's rescission right applies even if the contract does not mention it, and a real estate licensee who uses a contract without that disclosure must give the client BCFSA's approved rescission disclosure form.

The current standard form is available to REALTORS through BCREA and to CBABC members; you may ask your realtor or lawyer to provide it. If you want to add terms, consult your real estate agent or lawyer and put them in a schedule or addendum that the contract expressly makes part of it (for example, a clause stating that the attached document is incorporated into and forms part of the contract).

What I need the BC contract of purchase and sale for?

• The seller uses a contract of purchase and sale BC to make sure that the exact amount of money that was agreed upon in advance with the buyer is recorded in the template (a seller does not have to use a particular form). There must be agreed on the deadline, and the way transaction takes place;
• To start the procedure of buying, the buyer signs the contract of purchase and sale BC PDF as a written offer, which the seller can accept, reject or counter. Before the template is signed buyer has to make sure that it contains exact information and the dates that were agreed upon. Once the seller accepts, the parties have a binding contract, although for a covered home purchase the buyer can still rescind it within a short statutory period (see below).

Home Buyer Rescission Period

For a purchase covered by BC's Home Buyer Rescission Period, the buyer may rescind the contract by serving written notice of rescission on the seller within 3 business days after the date the acceptance of the offer was signed. The count starts the day after the acceptance is signed, and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not count. The right cannot be waived. It applies only to the home types listed in the regulation, such as a detached or semi-detached house, a townhouse, a residential strata lot or a manufactured home affixed to land, and it does not apply to residential property on leased land, a leasehold interest, a sale at auction, a sale under a court order or court supervision, or a purchase to which the separate rescission right in section 21 of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act applies.

The notice must identify the property (its address, parcel identifier or a description) and give the name of each seller, the buyer's name and signature or electronic signature, and the date the right is exercised. A notice sent by registered mail to the seller's address in the contract, by fax to the seller's fax number in the contract, or by email with a read receipt requested to the seller's email address in the contract counts as served when it is sent. A buyer who rescinds must promptly pay the seller 0.25% of the purchase price set out in the contract; if a deposit was received by or on behalf of the seller, that amount is paid to the seller from the deposit and the rest of the deposit is returned to the buyer.

How to Fill Out the BC Contract of Purchase and Sale?

You will find the standard contract of purchase and sale BC behind a log-in on the CBABC and British Columbia Real Estate Association websites (for CBABC members and REALTORS). You may ask your real estate agent to send the document. The file on this PDFLiner page is a different, generic template, not that standard form; if you want to fill it online, use a PDF editor like PDFLiner.

Enter the form there, fill it out, and send it to another party. You may create your e-signature in the editor. Send the document by email if the parties have agreed to communicate that way, and follow the contract's terms for delivering offers and notices. However, you can still download and print the form to send it by mail or in person. Here is what you need to include in it:

• Share the current date and the name of the person who prepared the document;
• Include information on seller and buyer in two separate boxes, filling it with home address and phone number, plus the buyer's occupation and whether the seller is a resident or non-resident of Canada (this means residency under the Income Tax Act (Canada), which is not the same as permanent-resident status);
• Identify the property by its civic address, its parcel identifier (PID) and its legal description from the title; a civic address alone is not a reliable way to identify land;
• Share the data on the price of the purchase, deposit, terms, and conditions; if GST may apply, say whether the price includes it (the standard BCREA form treats GST as included unless the buyer and seller agree otherwise in writing). If a real estate licensee prepares the offer, the licensee must include, unless the client instructs otherwise in writing, terms that the contract must not be assigned without the seller's written consent and that the seller is entitled to any profit from an assignment (this rule does not apply to a developer's sale of a development unit under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act). If an offer presented to a seller leaves either term out, a licensee acting for the seller must tell the seller and give them a separate notice advising them to get independent professional advice before signing;
• Enter the Completion Date (when ownership transfers in exchange for the price) and the Possession Date (when the buyer can move in); they are not necessarily the same day;
• Complete the adjustments clause with the Adjustment Date, the date from which the buyer takes on property taxes, utilities and other charges;
• Put the signature of the buyer and seller and their occupation; the signing lines also have a space for a witness.

Who works with the BC contract of purchase and sale

• Sellers and buyers from British Columbia;
• Realtors and lawyers, who provide the standard form to their clients;
• BCREA and CBABC, which developed the standard form.