I had a question about selling a property in vancouver, bc as is.

I have a very old property that I want to sell as is. The house is worthless, has multiple problems including mold. The property may or may not contain an oil tank (most likely it does, but we never did an inspection).

Within 1 day, a very eager buyer was ready to buy the property all-cash.

I do not intend to defraud anyone, but I do not want to be responsible for any legal issues regarding the house. The buyer is more than willing to buy the house with no inspections whatsoever, and without a property disclosure form.

It's fairly obvious that the only value my house has is land value, and the buyers will knock down the house and build something new. I only want to sell to someone who is willing to knock down the house. My only worry is that for whatever reason, the buyers could be shady and they could potentially use any loopholes to sue us.

Am I protected from all liabilities if we complete the transaction this way? I wanted to put in writing that there was a mold problem and a potential oil tank problem but was advised by a real estate lawyer that I should include no property disclosure, and write nothing specific so that everything is covered. If I spell anything out, then other potential problems could be used against me.

Also, are property disclosures required in BC? My lawyer said no, but my real estate agent said yes, a property disclosure is required to be signed even though it is crossed out and "as is" is put on it.

I appreciate any help in this matter!

Ken

You have spoken with a lawyer and appear to doubt his or her advice, therefore I suggest that you view an article at

http://www.aaron.ca/columns/2009-10-24.htm

This article address the issue of "Disclosure Forms" by Sellers, and the authors opinion is that they lead to litigation.

To the best of my knowledge these "Disclosure Forms" are not required by law, but are required by real estate associations and their agents to be completed by the seller in order to safeguard real estate agents from being sued for misrepresentation of the property.

Many actions against the seller and their real estate agents are for misrepresentation and that the seller and/or agent failed to disclose known material facts regarding the property.

You will require a lawyer to convey title to a purchaser and to answer any requisitions from the buyer's lawyer that go to the root of title, etc.

Therefore, consider engaging the services of a lawyer to handle the drafting of an "Offer to Purchase" or to amend the Buyer's offer accordingly in order to safeguard the seller's intersts.

Most lawyers will do this for no additional fee, if retained to handle the sale and conveyance of title to the property.

Important Notice: This information is provided as basic educational information by the author and is not a substitute for the advice of an expert and/or the advice of a lawyer. There is NO representation as to legality, accuracy, correctness of the herein information and the reader is strongly urged to consult a lawyer in the relevant jurisdiction to ensure accuracy before acting on this
information .

Thank you for your response!

We did contact a lawyer, but frankly I searched for a referral from friends and couldn't get any in a timely manner, so I googled for a real estate lawyer close by. I would rather trust this lawyer over the real estate agent, however, I just wanted some type of 3rd party confirmation.

The problem is that I also did a fair amount of googling on this matter, and everything I read said that we should be as honest as possible in the property disclosure, and failure to mention things could lead to litigation. Some things I found stated that as-is would not cover non-obvious things, but I think these are from the US and not Canada, and I'm aware that different areas have different laws.


I found a ruling where a BC agent was suspended for 7 days for not providing the buyers with a property disclosure. So that further confused me.

http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcrec/doc/2008/2008canlii75136/2008canlii75136.pdf

My own personal opinion is that being completely forthright is the best policy, however, I do know that being completely forthright doesn't help you when it comes to the law, because it could be twisted against me.

I agree that I do have a lawyer, and I will follow his advice. I will communicate with him on Tuesday and see where to go from here.

Thanks again for your response.

In my area of Ontario most many agents do not complete the property disclose form, the feeling was that it created more problems than it solved.

Lots of properties are sold "as is", and that condition is suppost to be reflected in the price. If the buyer asks you a question then you cannot lie, but if they don't want to ask any questions it there problem.

Bottom line is that the lawyers advice is what I'd expect.

Good luck.

Hello kjackson

Any update you have for us with regards to your sale. Did you end up selling? What did you end up choosing to do with regards to disclosure?

I operate in the Lower Mainland so I would be more than happy to explain the exact rules and regulations that pertain to your situation as well as your options regarding disclosure of material latent defects like the ones you described.

Let me know