The most important seven days in a presale purchase

The single most useful right a presale buyer has is also the easiest to waste: the seven-day rescission period.

Under BC’s Real Estate Development Marketing Act, you can cancel a presale contract within seven days for any reason, or no reason at all, and get your deposit back in full. The clock starts on the later of signing or receiving the disclosure statement, and it runs on calendar days, so weekends count.

Treat that window as a deadline for real diligence: read the disclosure statement, have a lawyer review the contract and addendums, and confirm your financing. After the seven days, walking away usually means losing your deposit.

Before you sign anything, read The 7-Day Rescission Period in BC and The Complete Guide to Buying a Presale in BC.

General information, not legal advice. Confirm with a BC real estate lawyer.

Selling your presale early? CSAIR makes assignments visible to the CRA

Plans change, and sometimes buyers want out of a presale before the building completes. The tool is an assignment: you sell your contract to a new buyer. It is more regulated than people expect.

BC requires assignments of presale contracts to be reported to the Condo and Strata Assignment Integrity Register (CSAIR), including the parties and the amounts involved, and that information is shared with tax authorities. Quietly flipping a presale is far harder than it used to be.

The profit is generally taxable, and depending on your original intent it can be taxed as business income rather than a capital gain, with GST potentially applying as well. Most contracts also require the developer’s consent and charge an assignment fee.

If an assignment is on your radar, read Assignments Explained first, and talk to an accountant before you commit.

Want to estimate the GST impact on your assignment math? Try the BC Presale Tax Estimator →

General information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.