UPDATE: Dealing with Contracts and Disclosure Requirements (COVID-19 FAQ)

The COVID-19 FAQ was last updated on November 12, 2020.

As the spread of COVID-19 continues to be a health risk and have a significant impact on people’s lives, REALTORS^® may be left with questions about how to deal with certain areas of their practice.

BCREA seeks to support you in these unprecedented times. We have created a resource to provide guidance when you're assisting clients with Standard Forms and transaction-related issues.

Contracts, Standard Forms and COVID-19 addresses the most frequently asked questions Realtors have about how to deal with transactions that may be affected by COVID-19. The topics include risk management around quarantines, delays for due diligence and closings and disclosure requirements.

The FAQ has been prepared in consultation with BCREA’s legal counsel and includes questions such as:

• Is there a clause I should consider adding to a contract to protect my clients on potential implications of COVID 19 on the completion of contract?
• My client is in quarantine, can they complete a purchase of real estate? What role can I play and what recommendations can I give to help them complete knowing that I’m not normally involved in closing? 

When determining how best to advise on a particular situation, Realtors should remember that the terms of the contract will govern the relationship between parties and the facts unique to their circumstances.

As such, based on legal advice, BCREA will not be creating a COVID-19-specific clause.  Any such clause would need to be specific to the unique facts for each transaction in order to be enforceable. Therefore any clause should be created and/or reviewed by legal counsel prior to use and acceptance to ensure any clause is in the best interest of your clients and addresses their particular circumstances.   

We recommend that Realtors work with their managing broker and seek legal advice where appropriate.

BCREA reminds managing brokers and Realtors that they should proactively monitor all recommendations of the health authorities and provincial and federal governments in implementing the appropriate precautions and practices to help keep themselves, their co-workers, their clients and the public safe and healthy. These resources include, but are not limited to:

• BC Centre for Disease Control – Latest Updates
• BC Centre for Disease Control – FAQ
• HealthLinkBC
• Government of Canada
• World Health Organization – Latest Updates
• World Health Organization – FAQ

We will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves and will provide updates to this resource as more information becomes available.

For more information and resources related to real estate practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, visit the BCREA COVID-19 resources page.

To subscribe to receive BCREA publications, or to update your email address or current subscriptions, click here.