It is important to understand when it may be appropriate for a land owner, tenant, lender or developer to do due diligence on First Nations matters. Without that, you could accidentally stumble into First Nations issues which can lead to significant delays, costs and frustration.

In other situations, you may know that lands you are dealing with are on reserve lands. This may mean that the lands are only registered in the Indian Lands Registry without the usual protections of indefeasible title and priorities offered by the B.C. land titles registry system. It also means that anything you do on the reserve lands will be affected by the requirements of the applicable First Nation instead of municipal or other governmental laws and bylaws.

Our real estate lawyers have been trusted legal advisors to many types of land owners, tenants, lenders and developers working with First Nations lands. This gives us a unique understanding and perspective on First Nations real estate matters which few lawyers enjoy. Contact us to have our experience serve your real estate law needs.

Since the 1970s, our lawyers have acted on hundreds of developments – both large and small; on fee simple, leasehold or reserve lands; with standard lot subdivisions, strata titling and air space parcels; and in all types of industries such as pre-sale condos, single-family residential subdivisions, shopping centres, business parks, office or mixed-use buildings, light and heavy industrial parks, warehouses and hotels.

When we think of real estate developments, we often think of the land owner or developer. We have gained a great reputation and high level of trust with of our clients. This experience can be invaluable to our developer clients.

Pre-sales are now an indispensable tool for real estate developers in Vancouver and throughout B.C. to raise the necessary funds to transform their real estate projects into reality. Goluboff & Mazzei has a team of real estate lawyers who are very experienced in acting for pre-sale developers, lenders and purchasers. We had the unique opportunity of playing a key role in developing and implementing the practical and legal framework for bringing the concept of pre-sales to B.C. a few decades ago.

B.C. consumer protection laws apply to anyone marketing or selling in B.C. if they are marketing or selling real estate – regardless of whether the real estate or the vendor is in B.C. or somewhere else in the world. Some key parts of these laws are found in the B.C. Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA).

If you are a real estate developer, it is important to know when a disclosure statement needs to be filed in B.C. Once you know you need a disclosure statement, you should ensure it is drafted clearly and thoroughly enough so that purchasers can’t use it as a way to back out of their purchase. After you have filed a disclosure statement, keep it current and accurate or your purchasers could legally walk away from their purchase.

Financiers who lend to developers of pre-sale developments are also affected by the laws imposed on real estate developers. These laws are significant at all stages of financing from determining the level of pre-sales before being committed to finance a project, monitoring the ongoing construction progress and disclosure requirements to considering the implications of taking enforcement action if a developer defaults in its loan.

For purchasers of pre-sale developments, sifting through all the information unique to pre-sales can be daunting. There are many concepts to become familiar with. These include disclosure statements, recession rights, time lines, consequences for construction delays, financing, deposit insurance, new home warrantees, rental disclosure statements, property transfer taxes, and GST and new housing rebates.

Contact us to act for you in your pre-sale real estate venture.

It is usually best to have your lawyer review your offer before you sign it, or make it subject to your lawyer’s review of the agreement. This review is often time sensitive. We are available when you need us.

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. A dispute may come up between buyers and sellers, developers and purchasers, owners and municipalities, you and your neighbours. We can look at your situation, let you know your options, help you decide what, if any, legal action to take and be your advocate through it all.

If you are a real estate agent, property management company, strata property manager or other real estate business, you may want who help with training in real estate law concepts or drafting some standard form contracts or clauses for you, your staff or colleagues to use. We’re here to help.

Some of our experience in this area of real estate law include the Lions Gate Bridge, BC Ferries, First Nations treaty work and many highway and public transit projects. A lot of this work involves the delicate intricacies of liaising with a variety of stakeholders amongst different levels and ministries of government as well as public utility providers.

Whether you are in government, a utility provider, a financier or a private developer, ask us to put our legal expertise to work for you.

Often, anyone leasing a property will start with an offer to lease. Sometimes it begins with a letter of intent. Ultimately, a lease agreement is signed. The lease may include a right of first refusal or right of first offer, tenant’s improvement allowance, option to renew or extend, fixturing period, restrictive covenants on use, exclusive use rights or relocation rights.

Since a lease usually puts many restrictions on how a landlord and tenant must act for a certain amount of time, you may want to have a lawyer review any lease documents (including any offer or letter of intent) before you sign them or make them subject to your lawyer’s review. Otherwise, you may find that you have agreed to something which you did not intend to and it may be difficult to change that afterwards.

Commercial leases may also involve financing from lenders to the landlord or tenant. This may require a mortgage, non-disturbance agreement or other loan and security documents.

After a lease is signed, sometimes a landlord or tenant may decide to assign the lease or sell their business. Others may want help collecting rent arrears, getting tenant repairs done or evicting a tenant who is in default. A tenant may want help with getting its landlord to properly maintain the building, provide adequate utilities or not overcharge operating costs. A lender may need to enforce its security by foreclosing on the landlord or tenant’s interest under the lease.

Our real estate lawyers have significant background in advising on all of the above from routine leases to unique and very complex ones.

Goluboff & Mazzei
Suite #201 – 585 16th Street,
West Vancouver, BC, V7V 3R8