New Cooling Off Period (BC Real Estate)

The Cooling Off Period, also known as the Home Buyer Rescission Period, is a three-day period in which a buyer can cancel their contract of purchase and sale after an offer is accepted with a financial penalty.

The buyer owes the seller .25% of the agreed upon sale price of the home as a rescission fee if they back out during the period. This right is not waivable by the buyer. The Cooling Off Period applies to residential real property, including detached homes, semi-detached homes, townhouses, apartments, residential strata lots, manufactured homes, and cooperative interests.

The Cooling Off Period does not apply to leasehold land, properties sold at auction, foreclosures, or presales under Section 21 of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA). The Cooling Off Period starts the first business day after the accepted offer and does not include weekends or holidays.

The Cooling Off Period grants buyers an automatic right to a full three business days to consider the purchase after acceptance.

If the subject removal period is longer than three days, the Cooling Off Period is mostly unnecessary. Sellers may be impacted by the Cooling Off Period if they accept subject-free offers, as all buyers will have an automatic right to a 3-day rescission period.

If there are subjects on the contract and the buyer backs out due to being unable to satisfy a condition, they do not owe the rescission fee to the seller, even if it is during the Cooling Off Period.