The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA), with support of BC’s real estate boards, published a white paper on February 28, 2022 that contains 30 policy recommendations for the provincial government.

A Better Way Home: Strengthening Consumer Protection in Real Estate includes detailed solutions for enhancing consumer protections and increasing housing options in the province’s real estate market.

The white paper also offers an alternative approach to the province’s proposed cooling off period. Instead, BCREA is recommending a “pre-offer period” where offers cannot be presented to a seller on new listings until the listings have been posted for five business days.

BCREA held a press conference on February 28, 2020 to announce these recommendations. REBGV Chair Taylor Biggar spoke at the press conference in support of these recommendations. REBGV has worked closely with BCREA in recent months to help develop the white paper. 

“We support measures that strengthen consumer protection and improve housing affordability and supply in our region. To find policy approaches that benefit current and hopeful home buyers as well as home sellers and owners requires a thorough understanding of how real estate transactions occur at every stage,” Biggar said. “Policymakers can only strike this delicate balance by consulting industry experts. This is why we urge our regulator and provincial government to deeply consider BCREA’s recommendations before implementing new requirements for home buyers and sellers in BC to follow.” 

Other recommendation in the white paper fall into four core categories:

• improving housing affordability,
• enhancing consumer protection in transactions,
• evolving the real estate sector, and
• creating a world-leading regulatory structure.

We’ll soon begin holding meetings with MLAs in our region to discuss these policy recommendations in more detail.