What happens between an accepted offer and completion day in BC

The seller signs. Your agent calls. The house is yours. That is how it feels, and it is the moment most people stop paying attention.

It is also the moment three separate clocks start running, and two of them expire in days. One of them is a right to walk away that you lose quietly, by doing nothing, before most buyers have even booked the inspection.

This page walks through the weeks between an accepted offer and the day you get the keys in British Columbia. Every deadline, fee and rule below comes from the statute, the regulator or the municipality that owns it, with a link to the source.

On this page

• The contract is binding already, and it holds three different dates
• Your three business days, and the myth about when they start
• Removing subjects: in writing, by the date, or the deal is over
• Strata buyers: two deadlines, and a gap in what you can demand
• Your deposit: where it sits and who can get it out
• What your lawyer or notary is doing while you wait
• The declaration nobody warns you about
• What gets adjusted, and why you may owe the seller money
• North Shore property tax dates, and who to call
• Insurance: the one thing that can stop the money moving
• Completion day is not registration day
• Two declarations that arrive after you move in
• A realistic calendar, counting backwards
• Mistakes that cost money
• Questions people ask
• What I could not confirm, and did not print

The contract is binding already, and it holds three different dates

An accepted offer is a contract, not a reservation. The BC Financial Services Authority puts it plainly on its page on offers to sellers: a subject clause sets out a condition that must be met before the sale goes through, “although the contract is legally binding once it is signed by both parties”.

Inside that contract are three dates that people routinely treat as one. They are not one, and mixing them up is how a buyer ends up with a moving truck outside a house they cannot enter.

Date	What actually happens	What it does not mean
Completion date	Ownership transfers and you pay the balance of the price. People’s Law School calls it the closing date and says it is “when ownership of the home is legally transferred to the buyer”	It is not the day you get keys, and it is not the day the title is registered
Possession date	You can physically take the home. People’s Law School says it is “usually one or two days after closing”	It is not automatically the same as completion, and the contract sets a time of day as well as a date
Adjustment date	The date from which you take on the running costs: taxes, strata fees, utilities. It is its own line in the contract	It is not necessarily completion day, and it decides who owes whom on the statement of adjustments

That Law Society instruction is worth reading twice. The regulator tells conveyancing lawyers to head off this specific confusion, which tells you how often it happens.

Your three business days, and the myth about when they start

Since 3 January 2023 a buyer of most residential property in BC can cancel the contract within a short window, for a fee. This is the Home Buyer Rescission Period.

The rules sit in the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation (B.C. Reg. 175/2022), made under the Property Law Act. Section 4 says: “For the purposes of section 42 (1) of the Act, the prescribed number of days is 3 business days.”

Using it is not free. Section 6 (1) says “the purchaser must promptly pay to the seller an amount that is equal to 0.25% of the purchase price”.

And it cannot be bargained away. Section 7 is one sentence: “The right of rescission under section 42 (1) of the Act cannot be waived.”

The myth: that the clock starts after subject removal

It does not. BCFSA’s consumer guide to the rescission period, published 17 October 2022, says it in two lines. First: “Should your offer contain subject conditions (e.g., financing, home inspection etc.), these will run concurrently with the rescission period.” Then, flatly: “The rescission period DOES NOT begin after subject removal.”

So on a typical deal the three business days are gone before the inspector has been. In practice the rescission period is a protection for a buyer who signed without conditions, not a safety net for everyone else.

The same guide says the period “begins the next full business day after an offer is accepted”. That start rule comes from the regulator, not from the statute itself, which says only that the notice must be served within the prescribed number of days after the date the acceptance was signed.

Four kinds of sale it does not reach

Section 3 of the regulation takes four categories out of it: “residential real property that is located on leased land”, “a leasehold interest in residential real property”, “residential real property that is sold at auction”, and “residential real property that is sold under a court order or the supervision of a court”.

Presales are outside it too, because a presale buyer already has a different and longer right to cancel under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act. If you are buying a presale, that is the right that matters to you.

Removing subjects: in writing, by the date, or the deal is over

A subject clause is a condition you have to satisfy by a date you proposed. BCFSA lists the three most common ones: “the arrangement of the financing you require”, “a satisfactory professional building inspection”, and “if the home is a strata lot, a satisfactory review of all relevant strata documentation”.

Two things about them surprise people.

The first is that you owe real effort. BCFSA: “When you place ‘subject’ clauses on your offer to purchase, you are required to use every reasonable effort to see that the conditions are satisfied.” And: “It is important to know that subject clauses are not ‘escape’ clauses that allow you to avoid your legal responsibilities in the contract.”

The second is what silence does. People’s Law School: “If the buyer doesn’t give written notice that they’re removing the subject clauses by the deadline, the contract ends. This means that neither party is required to go ahead with the deal.”

So the default is collapse, not extension. Removing subjects is an active step, in writing, delivered on time. If you need longer, that is an amendment the seller has to agree to, and they do not have to.

One more clause to look for before you sign. BCFSA notes a seller may ask for a term requiring you “to remove all subject conditions within a specified time period if the seller receives another attractive offer”. If that is in your contract, your comfortable two weeks can become a very short deadline with no notice.

Strata buyers: two deadlines, and a gap in what you can demand

If you are buying a condo or townhouse, your subject-to-documents period is governed by deadlines you do not control. They are in the Strata Property Act, and they are shorter than most buyers assume in one place and non-existent in another.

Section 59 of the Strata Property Act gives you the Information Certificate, the Form B. It begins: “Within one week of a request by an owner, a purchaser or a person authorized by an owner or purchaser” the strata corporation must give that person an Information Certificate in the prescribed form.

Note who is named there: a purchaser. You have standing in your own right.

Now read section 36, which covers everything else: minutes, books of account, the council records. It requires the strata to comply “within 2 weeks”, except for bylaws or rules, where the deadline is one week.

But section 36 (1) lists exactly who may ask, and it is a short list: an owner, certain tenants, or “a person authorized in writing by an owner or tenant”. A purchaser is not on it.

What you want	Can a purchaser demand it?	Deadline	Section
Form B Information Certificate	Yes, in your own right	One week from the request	Strata Property Act, s.59 (1)
Bylaws and rules	Only with the owner’s written authorisation	One week from the request	s.36 (3)
Minutes, books of account, other records	Only with the owner’s written authorisation	2 weeks from the request	s.36 (1) and (3)
Rules, current budget, most recent depreciation report	Yes, they must be attached to the Form B	Comes with the Form B, so one week	s.59 (4)

The practical consequence: get the seller’s written authorisation into the contract. Without it you are relying on the seller’s goodwill to pass documents along, inside a subject period you have already committed to.

One detail worth knowing if you are reading older guidance. Section 59 (4) now requires three attachments to the Form B: the rules, the current budget, and the most recent depreciation report. The paragraph that sat between the budget and the depreciation report has been repealed, so a checklist that lists four attachments is out of date.

The Form B itself is also binding on the strata. The section says the information disclosed in it “is binding on the strata corporation in its dealings with a person who relied on the certificate”. That is why the date on it matters, and why a stale one is worth re-ordering.

Your deposit: where it sits and who can get it out

Your deposit is not a payment to the seller. In the normal case it goes into a brokerage trust account and sits there until completion.

The Real Estate Services Act sets the chain. Section 27 (1) requires a licensee to “promptly pay or deliver to the brokerage” money received on behalf of a principal, and section 27 (2) requires the brokerage to “promptly pay into a brokerage trust account” the money it holds.

There is no fixed number of days anywhere in the Act. The standard is the word “promptly”, which is why you should not accept a day count you read somewhere as the rule.

Section 28 (2) then says something important about whose money it is. Once in that trust account, “the brokerage holds that money as a stakeholder and not as agent for one of the parties to the trade in real estate”. Not the buyer’s agent. Not the seller’s. A neutral holder.

If the deal collapses, nobody can simply hand it back

This is the part that causes the most anger, and it is written into the statute. Section 30 (2) says money held as a stakeholder “may be withdrawn only” in the ways it then lists: as provided in section 30 (1) (a) to (f), “in accordance with a written agreement of the parties to the trade in real estate”, or in accordance with regulations under the Act or under section 43 of the Property Law Act.

Section 30 (1) (e) and (f) cover “money paid into court under section 33” and “money paid in accordance with a court order”.

BCFSA’s consumer guide to deposits translates it: the brokerage holds it “as a neutral third party”, and “If there is a disagreement over who gets the funds, the deposit is paid into court, and the court will decide.”

So a contract term saying the deposit is yours if the deal fails does not, by itself, get you your money. Someone still has to sign.

The interest is not yours

Section 29 (1) says a brokerage credited with interest on a brokerage trust account “holds the interest in trust for the foundation” and must have the bank pay it to the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia.

There are exceptions, chiefly where a separate trust account is set up for a principal, in which case the interest follows that account. If your deposit is large and your completion is months away, that is a conversation to have before you write the cheque, not after.

What your lawyer or notary is doing while you wait

Most of the gap between subject removal and completion is conveyancing, and almost none of it is visible to you. The Law Society of British Columbia publishes the Residential Conveyance Practice Checklist F-1, current to 4 September 2025, which is the closest thing to an official list of the work.

• Searching the title and confirming what charges have to come off before you take it.
• Getting the municipal numbers. The checklist says to “Get tax, municipal utility, and other information from the municipality or assessment district”, including current and past year taxes, arrears, appeals, and “any pending large increases due to local improvement charges or special area debt levies”.
• Confirming the strata money is clean, which the checklist describes as “confirmation that strata fees, special levies, and fines have been paid to date”.
• Preparing the statements of adjustments for both sides, and checking that they balance.
• Taking your mortgage instructions from the lender and preparing the mortgage for signing.
• Filing the property transfer tax return and the transparency declaration with the transfer.
• Identifying you and recording where your money came from.

Why they ask where the money came from

Since 1 January 2020 a BC lawyer has had to “Obtain from the client and record, with the applicable date, information about the source of money if there is a ‘financial transaction'”, according to the Law Society’s own client identification and verification page. A house purchase is a financial transaction.

There is also a hard cash limit. A Law Society discipline advisory of 3 September 2026 states that “Lawyers are generally precluded from receiving or accepting an aggregate amount greater than $7,500 in cash in respect of any one client matter”, under Rule 3-59. There are narrow exceptions, including cash from a financial institution and cash for professional fees.

Plan your down payment as a bank transfer, with a paper trail, and start that conversation early. A buyer scrambling to explain a deposit two days before completion is a buyer who may not complete on time.

The declaration nobody warns you about

Here is the requirement that surprises almost every first-time buyer, because it is usually handled silently by the lawyer and never mentioned again.

Since 30 November 2020, every buyer in British Columbia files a transparency declaration. Section 10 (1) of the Land Owner Transparency Act says that on an application to register an interest in land, “each transferee must file with the administrator a transparency declaration”.

Each transferee. Not each company. An ordinary individual buying an ordinary house files one too, stating that they are not a reporting body.

The consequence of missing it is not a fine. Section 11 (1) says: “The registrar must refuse to accept an application to register an interest in land if a transferee fails to submit a transparency declaration with the application.”

Must refuse. No declaration, no registration.

If you are buying through a corporation, a partnership or a trust, you are a reporting body and you file more than a declaration. The Land Title and Survey Authority explains on its page about the transparency registry that a reporting body “must also complete and file a transparency report setting out information about the reporting body and its interest holders”. That takes time to assemble, and it is a reason to tell your lawyer how you are taking title at the start, not at the end.

One limit worth knowing. “Interest in land” is a defined term in the Act, and it covers a fee simple estate, a life estate, a lease of more than 10 years, and rights under an agreement for sale. Registering a mortgage on its own is not caught.

What gets adjusted, and why you may owe the seller money

The last document you see before completion is the statement of adjustments, and it is the one most buyers read for the first time with the pen already in their hand.

People’s Law School describes it as “a document that lays out the financial obligations of the buyer and seller”, and says “The final line on your statement of adjustments tells you how much you must pay to complete the transaction.”

The logic is simple once you see it. The seller has paid some things in advance that cover a period when you will own the home, so you pay them back. You will pay some things later that cover a period when they owned it, so they credit you.

Line	Who is usually out of pocket	Why
Property taxes, already paid for the year	You credit the seller	They paid an annual bill covering months you will own the home
Property taxes, not yet billed	Seller credits you	You will get the bill for a period they owned it
Strata fees for the current month	You credit the seller	Strata fees are paid at the start of the month
A special levy already approved	Depends entirely on the contract	Agree in writing who pays it, before subject removal, not after
Utilities	Either way	Depends which are billed in advance and which in arrears
Your deposit	Credited to you	You have already paid it, so it comes off the balance
Property transfer tax	You pay	Payable on the day the transfer is registered
Land title registration fees	You pay	$83.82 for the transfer, $83.82 for the mortgage

Your lawyer gets the tax numbers by ordering a tax certificate for the property. That is a real cost, and it varies by municipality: through the land title authority’s service the fee is $116.50 for the City of North Vancouver, $137.26 for the District of North Vancouver, and $120.26 for West Vancouver.

Ask for a draft statement of adjustments two or three days before completion rather than on the day. It is much easier to query a line when there is still time to fix it.

North Shore property tax dates, and who to call

The North Shore is three separate local governments, and the property you are buying belongs to exactly one of them. Which one decides who you call about taxes, utilities and permits.

In the year checked, all three had the same tax due date. They did not all have the same second penalty date, which is the kind of detail that costs money if you assume.

Municipality	Property tax due	First penalty	Second penalty	Tax department	Hall
City of North Vancouver	2 July 2026	5% after 2 July 2026	A further 5% after 1 September 2026	604-983-7316, tax@cnv.org	141 West 14th Street
District of North Vancouver	2 July 2026	5% after 2 July 2026	A further 5% after 1 September 2026	604-990-2311, propertytax@dnv.org	355 West Queens Road
West Vancouver	2 July 2026	5% on 2 July 2026	A further 5% on 2 September 2026	604-925-7032, taxinfo@westvancouver.ca	750 17th Street

The City of North Vancouver’s general line is 604-985-7761. West Vancouver’s main switchboard is 604-925-7000, which is a different number from the tax line above.

Insurance: the one thing that can stop the money moving

Buyers treat home insurance as an errand for moving week. Lenders treat it as a condition of releasing the money.

The clearest authority is the federal banking regulator. Guideline B-20, Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures, lists property insurance agreements in its loan documentation principle, and its footnote 8 reads: “This includes a borrower’s agreement to obtain property insurance, as a condition of mortgage approval, as well as proof of property insurance obtained by the FRFI when the mortgage funds are disbursed.”

Two honest limits on that. B-20 is a supervisory guideline rather than a statute, and it binds federally regulated financial institutions. A BC credit union is regulated provincially, and private lenders are outside it altogether. What the guideline shows is that for the banks it covers, proof of insurance at the point of disbursement is expected practice, not an optional extra.

On the consumer side People’s Law School advises buyers to “Arrange for ‘all risk’ insurance coverage from 12:01 am on the completion date onwards”, and says “Most lenders require proof of insurance before they’ll provide any funds for the sale.”

The Law Society checklist adds the detail that catches people out: “Advise the client that most lenders require a certificate of insurance with a ‘loss payee’ clause.” A policy in your name alone, without the lender named, can be refused.

Buying a strata lot does not remove the job. The same checklist tells lawyers to advise the client to make sure “there is no gap in coverage between the strata corporation’s policy and the client’s policy”.

Arrange it the week you remove subjects. It costs nothing to have it early and it is the single most common last-minute reason funds are held back.

Completion day is not registration day

You complete, you get the keys, you move in. Your name is not yet on the title.

The Land Title and Survey Authority says so on its page on the registration process: “Turnaround times vary, but typically most land title applications are registered within 10 to 15 business days.” Some applications submitted online “will often occur in 2 business days”.

This is normal, and it is not a problem. It is simply not what most buyers picture.

Property transfer tax is tied to that registration, not to your moving date. The Province’s page on filing the return, last updated 5 May 2026, is blunt: “The Land Title Office may refuse to register your property transfer if the tax isn’t paid on the date the transfer is registered.”

The rates are 1% of the fair market value up to and including $200,000, 2% of the value greater than $200,000 and up to and including $2,000,000, and 3% above $2,000,000. Where the property has residential value over $3,000,000, a further 2% applies to that portion.

Exemptions exist and they are worth checking before you budget. The first-time buyers’ exemption and the newly built home exemption each have their own tests, and they are set out in detail in my guide to what a first-time buyer actually pays on completion day.

Two declarations that arrive after you move in

Completion is not the last deadline. Two more follow you into the next calendar year, and neither one is sent by your lawyer.

The home owner grant, which you claim from the Province

The grant reduces your property tax bill on your principal residence, and you have to claim it. The Province’s application page, last updated 31 August 2026, says “you must apply each year to receive the grant on your principal residence”.

You claim it from the Province, not from your city. The District of North Vancouver tells its own residents exactly that in its 2026 tax newsletter: eligible residents “may claim their home owner grant by applying directly with the Province at gov.bc.ca/homeownergrant or by phone at 1-888-355-2700”.

There are two dates and people confuse them. The outside limit is generous: “You can apply for the home owner grant up to December 31 of the current tax year, even if you have not paid your property taxes.” The date that actually matters is your tax due date, because “If you apply for the grant after your property taxes are due, late payment penalties may apply to the unpaid portion of your property taxes.”

In plain words: you can claim it until the end of December, but if you claim it after 2 July on the North Shore you may be paying a penalty on the amount the grant was going to cover.

The speculation and vacancy tax declaration

Every owner of residential property in a designated taxable area declares every year, including people who live in the home full time. All three North Shore municipalities are inside the designated area.

The Province’s page on declaring, last updated 4 June 2026, states the deadline in one line: “You must complete your declaration by March 31.”

And it is per person, not per property: “When a property has more than one owner, each person on title needs to make a separate declaration, even if the other owner is your spouse or relative.”

So a couple who buy together file two declarations. Buy in October and your first declaration letter arrives early the following year, for a property you owned for part of a year. Declare anyway.

A realistic calendar, counting backwards

Every deal is different and the dates below are the ones you negotiate, not ones the law sets. What the law does set is the shape: the rescission window is at the very start, the strata deadlines eat into the subject period, and the conveyancing needs real time at the end.

When	What has to happen	Who is waiting on whom
Day the offer is accepted	Contract binds. Deposit timing starts. Rescission window opens	Nobody. This is on you
Same day	Order the Form B and the strata records. Book the inspection	The strata has one week for the Form B, 2 weeks for records
Next 3 business days	Rescission window closes, running alongside your subjects	You, and it closes whether or not you have the inspection report
Through the subject period	Inspection, appraisal, lender’s conditions, reading the documents	The lender and the strata, both outside your control
Subject removal date	Written notice to the seller, or the contract ends	You. Silence ends the deal
Right after subject removal	Arrange insurance. Instruct the lawyer or notary. Send identification and proof of where the money came from	Your lawyer cannot start without the instructions
Two to three weeks before completion	Lawyer searches title, orders the tax certificate, confirms strata money, takes the lender’s instructions	The municipality, the strata and the lender
A few days before completion	You sign the mortgage and transfer documents, and review the statement of adjustments	You, in person or with a notary
A day or two before completion	The balance of your down payment reaches your lawyer’s trust account	Your bank. Transfers take longer than people expect
Completion date	Documents filed, money flows, property transfer tax paid with the registration	The land title office
Possession date	Keys. Usually a day or two after completion	The seller, who must be out
10 to 15 business days later	Title registers in your name	The land title office
The following year	Speculation and vacancy tax declaration by 31 March, home owner grant before the tax due date	You, both of them

Mistakes that cost money

• Believing the rescission period starts after subject removal. It runs at the same time as your subjects, and on most deals it has expired before the inspection report arrives.
• Letting the subject removal date pass while you wait for one more answer. Silence ends the contract. There is no automatic extension.
• Assuming you can get the strata minutes yourself. As a purchaser you can demand a Form B, and nothing else. Get the owner’s written authorisation into the contract.
• Expecting your deposit back by asking for it. It takes both signatures, a court order, or payment into court.
• Booking the movers for the completion date. Possession is usually a day or two later, at a time of day set in the contract.
• Leaving insurance to moving week. Lenders want proof, with the lender named as loss payee, before they release funds.
• Moving the down payment at the last minute. Bank transfers take days, and your lawyer has to record where the money came from.
• Planning to pay anything substantial in cash. A lawyer generally cannot accept more than $7,500 in cash on one client matter.
• Forgetting the home owner grant until December. You can still claim it, but penalties may already be running on the part it would have covered.
• Ignoring the speculation and vacancy tax letter because you live in the home. Everyone on title declares, every year.

Questions people ask

Can I change my mind after my offer is accepted?

For most residential property, yes, within 3 business days, by paying the seller 0.25% of the purchase price. After that your only way out is a subject clause you have not yet removed. The right cannot be waived, but it also cannot be extended.

How long does the strata have to give me the documents?

One week for a Form B Information Certificate, which you can request as a purchaser. 2 weeks for other records, and one week for bylaws and rules, but only if the owner has authorised you in writing.

The deal fell apart. Why will nobody give me my deposit back?

Because the brokerage holds it as a stakeholder, not for you. The Real Estate Services Act lets it come out on a written agreement signed by both parties, on a court order, or by being paid into court. A clause in your contract is not a substitute for that signature.

Do I get the keys on the completion date?

Usually not. Completion is when ownership and money change hands. Possession is when you can physically enter, and it is commonly a day or two later at a set time. Both dates are in your contract.

Am I on the title the day I move in?

Not usually. The land title authority says most applications register within 10 to 15 business days, and some online filings in 2 business days. This is routine.

What is this transparency declaration my lawyer sent me?

It is required of every buyer under the Land Owner Transparency Act. Most individuals simply declare that they are not a reporting body. If you are buying through a company, a partnership or a trust, a fuller transparency report is needed as well.

Why does my lawyer want to see where my down payment came from?

Because the Law Society has required it since 1 January 2020 for any financial transaction. It is not personal and it is not optional. Give them clean bank records early.

Who pays the property taxes for the year I buy?

Both of you, split at the adjustment date in your contract and settled on the statement of adjustments. If the seller has already paid the year’s bill, you repay them for the part of the year you will own the home.

What I could not confirm, and did not print

• A fixed deadline for getting a deposit into trust. The Act says “promptly” and nothing more. Any specific number of hours or days you read elsewhere is somebody’s practice, not the law, so no figure appears above.
• A plain-language official definition of the adjustment date. It is a real clause in the standard contract and the Law Society checklist refers to it, but I could not find a free public page from a government or regulator that defines it for consumers. The description above is drawn from the clause and the checklist.
• A general source-of-funds duty on real estate brokerages. The federal anti-money-laundering guidance does not require source of funds in an ordinary receipt of funds record. The general duty I have described belongs to lawyers and notaries, not to brokerages, so I have not written it as though it applies to everyone.
• Two contact details carried in my own earlier notes for the City of North Vancouver. A property information email address and a direct phone number could not be found on any City document or page, so they are not printed here. The City’s published tax contacts appear in the table instead.
• The exact operator of the tax certificate service. Two land title authority pages describe it differently, so I have given the fee and the function and left the operator out.

If you are partway through a purchase on the North Shore and something above does not match what you are being told, send me the address and the dates in your contract. I will read the timeline with you and tell you which deadline is the one actually at risk.

Read next

• What a first-time buyer actually pays on completion day
• What the strata insurance deductible means for a buyer
• What to look for in a strata depreciation report
• Buying a presale on the North Shore, and what an assignment really costs
• What breaks in an older North Shore house
• All of my North Shore guides
• این مطلب به فارسی: از پذیرش پیشنهاد تا روز تکمیل معامله

General information only, not advice on any specific property, contract or tax position. Laws, fees, deadlines and municipal dates change, and several of the figures above are set annually. Confirm the current position with the authority that owns it: the Province of British Columbia for property transfer tax, the home owner grant and the speculation and vacancy tax, the BC Financial Services Authority for rescission and deposit rules, the Land Title and Survey Authority for registration and fees, the Law Society of British Columbia for a lawyer’s obligations, your strata corporation for its own records, and the District of North Vancouver, City of North Vancouver or West Vancouver for anything municipal. Take legal and accounting advice before committing money. Every figure, date, section number and quotation here was verified at its primary source on 7 October 2026, and then verified again in a separate adversarial pass. Last reviewed October 2026.

Written by Tom Jahed, licensed REALTOR®, Vanak Realty, North Vancouver.