BC Home Buyer Rescission Period 2026: 3-Day Cooling-Off Rules

What Is Covered and What Is Exempt

The HBRP applies to most resale residential property in BC. Under section 2 of the regulation, residential real property includes detached houses, semi-detached houses, townhouses, apartments in duplexes and multi-unit buildings, residential strata lots, manufactured homes affixed to land, and cooperative interests that include the right to occupy a dwelling.

Four categories are exempt under section 3 of the regulation. Each exemption matters for a different segment of the BC market.

• Residential real property on leased land: Properties on SFU lands, UBC lands, Musqueam lands, parts of Tsawwassen and Squamish Nation leases, and parts of False Creek are excluded. If the title is freehold but the building sits on a lease, the exemption still applies.
• Leasehold interests in residential real property: If you are buying the leasehold itself rather than fee-simple title, no HBRP applies.
• Auction sales: Properties sold at auction are exempt. This includes some new-build assignment auctions and certain trustee sales.
• Court-ordered sales and sales supervised by a court: Foreclosures, judicial sales, and estate sales conducted under court supervision sit outside the HBRP. We cover the mechanics of these in our court-ordered sale guide and foreclosure properties guide.

Presale condos are a special case. The Real Estate Development Marketing Act already gives presale buyers a 7-day rescission right that pre-dates the HBRP, so presales do not need the 3-day rule layered on top. New construction sold by a developer typically falls under REDMA, not the HBRP.

Cooling-Off Is Not a Substitute for Subjects

This is the single biggest misconception about the HBRP, and the place where buyers get hurt. The cooling-off period gives you 3 business days. A standard financing subject runs 5 to 7 business days. An inspection subject often needs 7 to 10. A strata document review for a complex building can take 2 weeks.

Three business days is not enough time to do any of the following:

• Get a full mortgage approval, including the lender's review of the property appraisal
• Book and complete a home inspection, then review the report with your inspector
• Order and read strata minutes, depreciation reports, financial statements, bylaws, and the Form B
• Confirm property tax history, BC Assessment value, and any liens on title
• Verify zoning, secondary suite legality, or development plans next door

The right strategy in most cases is to write a subject offer the same way you would in any other province, and treat the HBRP as a free extra layer of protection that buys you time to fix any single error you discovered in the first 72 hours. The fee is the price of using that backup, and it is a small fraction of the cost of being trapped in a contract you cannot perform.

When the HBRP Actually Helps

Subject-free offers are the case where the HBRP earns its keep. In hot multiple-offer markets like Vancouver's Westside or Burnaby pre-sale resales, listing agents push buyers toward subject-free offers because sellers are unwilling to take their listing off the market without certainty. The HBRP gives a buyer 3 business days to:

• Get a same-week pre-inspection done by an inspector who works on short notice
• Send the strata documents to a lawyer for a fast read
• Confirm the lender's commitment letter is on the way
• Walk away for 0.25% if any of the above turns up a problem

The math is favourable. On a $1.5 million subject-free offer, the HBRP exit costs $3,750. Walking away from a deal with an undisclosed special levy, a failed inspection, or a financing problem usually saves tens of thousands.

The HBRP is less useful when you have proper subjects in place. In a balanced or buyer-friendly market, write a subject offer, do your due diligence under those subjects, and only use the HBRP if a subject was somehow waived early or the timeline collapsed.

How to Deliver a Rescission Notice

The notice must be in writing and delivered before 11:59 PM on the third business day. Section 5 of the regulation specifies what the notice must contain.

• The address, parcel identifier, or description of the property
• The full name and signature (electronic signatures are accepted) of the buyer
• The full name of each seller
• The date the right of rescission is being exercised

Delivery is deemed valid if sent by registered mail, fax, or email with a requested read receipt to the addresses listed in the contract. In practice your realtor or lawyer will draft and send the notice for you, and your brokerage will coordinate the deposit return. Do not rely on a verbal notice or a text message to the listing agent. The statutory delivery method is what protects you.

Disclosure Obligations and BCFSA Enforcement

BC realtors and brokerages are regulated by BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). Licensees are required to disclose the existence of the HBRP to consumers and explain it before an offer is signed. The disclosure is typically built into the offer documents, but verbal walk-through is also expected. If a licensee fails to disclose the rescission right, BCFSA can impose discipline that includes fines and suspensions.

If you are the buyer and the rule was never explained to you, that does not extend your deadline. The 3 business days run from offer acceptance regardless of what was disclosed. Your remedy against the licensee is a complaint to BCFSA, not an extension of the rescission window.

The Seller's Side of the Equation

Sellers cannot opt out of the HBRP and cannot refuse to accept a rescission. What they can do is price the rescission risk into their negotiating posture. In multiple-offer situations, listing agents sometimes give a slight edge to offers from buyers with a clean financing history and a known mortgage broker, because the perceived rescission risk is lower.

If you are selling, the practical impact is that your "sold" property is not fully sold for 3 business days. Showings usually pause during that window. If the buyer rescinds, you collect the 0.25% fee and relist, and the days-on-market clock continues. A short rescission rarely affects the eventual sale price, but it does add friction.

Bottom Line: Use It as a Safety Net, Not a Strategy

The Home Buyer Rescission Period is a useful safety net for one specific situation, which is a subject-free offer in a competitive BC market where you did not have time to complete full due diligence before signing. In every other case, write a proper subject offer, do your inspections and financing checks under those subjects, and use the HBRP only as a fallback if something goes wrong in the first 72 hours.

The fee is real, the exemptions matter, and the delivery rules are strict. If you understand all three, the HBRP becomes one more reason BC is the most buyer-protective resale market in the country.

Ready to start your search with proper data? Browse live Vancouver and Metro Vancouver listings on Zealty with full MLS pricing history, days on market, and sold-to-previous-price ratios. For a deeper view of any building, our Strata Browser covers 14,000+ BC strata buildings with documents and assessment history, and the Metro Vancouver housing market page tracks monthly sales, inventory, and median prices.