Disclosure and Assignments for Strata Lots

Navigating changes to REDMA

The BC Government recently made amendments to the Real Estate Development Marketing Regulation, which involve disclosure requirements for developers who market strata lots in development properties. Fortunately, the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate (OSRE) issued Policy Statement 16 to provide guidance around these changes. And better yet, we're here to help decipher what these changes mean for REALTORS®!

What are the new requirements?
As of January 1, 2019, developers who market any of five or more strata lots in a development have additional disclosure requirements regarding assignments of strata purchase agreements. These include the following:

• Disclosure statements are now required to include additional content. What content is included depends on whether the developer allows assignments.
• Before consenting to an assignment, developers must collect additional information about each proposed party to the assignment agreement and report this information to the designated administrator. This information may then be used by the administrator for tax purposes.

Ultimately, the purpose of the new requirements is to decrease tax evasion, but they will also serve to increase transparency within real estate transactions.

What do the changes mean for REALTORS®?
Although the new requirements are aimed at developers, if you're a REALTOR® acting for a developer, you also need to be aware of the changes. It is particularly important to note the following ways that the changes will or may affect you as a REALTOR®:

• You should always review the disclosure statement to ensure that the appropriate information is included.
• If a developer asks you to draft or revise a disclosure statement in accordance with the new requirements, you should recommend that the developer obtain legal advice to ensure the disclosure statement meets their needs and complies with the law.
• Before seeking a developer's consent to an assignment, you should ensure that you've first provided them with the information that is required about each party to the assignment.

The changes are set out in full in Policy Statement 16, which can be found here. Please refer to the Policy Statement for specific disclosure statement requirements.

For additional information, please see the following resources from the BC government:

• OSRE Information Bulletin REDMA 18-01
• REDMA Strata Assignments FAQs

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