Helpful things to know before you buy or sell:

• Completion date: the buyer’s legal office submits the legal documents to the Land Title Office for registration and “makes money available” to the seller’s legal office. The seller’s legal office is responsible to send a courier to pick up the trust cheque and subsequently deposit monies into their own trust account before distributing monies to payout mortgages and other property expenses. (Note: Money moves “the old fashioned way” and cannot be moved between trust accounts by wire transfer or the “click of a button”). As a result, sale proceeds are usually available to the seller the next business day after completion.
• Possession date: the buyer gets the keys to the property.
• Adjustment date: the date from which the buyer becomes responsible for costs associated with the property (strata fees, property taxes, utilities, etc.).
• Our office does not provide keys to the buyer; the buyer’s realtor makes these arrangements.
• Same day sale and purchase completions are NOT encouraged as they are often problematic due to unrealistic time constraints and higher client costs incurred by additional fees and rush charges. If you are buying and selling, it is optimal to set your sale completion date one day before your purchase completion date.
• Property Transfer Tax (PTT) is a tax payable by all buyers to the BC Government. The tax is based on the purchase price: 1% on the first $200,000.00 and 2% on the balance of the price (and a further 3% on any amount more than $2,000,000.00). There are some cases in which a buyer may be eligible to claim an exemption from PTT. For an entire list of exemption, click here.