The Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA) was passed by the BC legislature in 2004. It was intended to protect consumers buying pre-sale condos and provide enhanced rights to those consumers who are unable to physically inspect the property or conduct other important due diligence at the time of purchase
On March 10, 2014 Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Suzanne Anton, Q.C. introduced Bill 17 (Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2014) that includes a proposed amendment to Section 23 of the REDMA. Changes to the legislation that governs the marketing of real estate by developers to consumers like you and me.
The amendment would make a purchase agreement enforceable against a purchaser where the developer’s disclosure statement included misrepresentation of a material fact and the developer was not aware of the misrepresentation at the time the agreement was entered into.
Instead of the developer taking responsibility of full disclosure during the marketing of a development, it becomes the responsibility of the consumer to prove that the developer was aware of the misrepresentation.
The amendment would remove the ability of the purchaser to terminate or renegotiate the agreement upon discovery of the misrepresentation.
It also enables a developer to recklessly include unsubstantiated information in a disclosure statement since he can later claim he did not know about the inaccuracies, while still enforcing the purchase agreement against the purchaser who relied upon the misrepresentation. This would enable an “open season” on purchasers by irresponsible developers.
The amendment must be stopped! We must hold developers accountable in the marketing of undeveloped real estate.
Say NO to changes to REDMA under the Bill 17 (Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2014).
