The first time you sit down with a REALTOR® in British Columbia, you get handed paperwork before you have looked at a single house. It is not sales material and it is not fine print. Most of it exists because the rules require it, and it is worth understanding what each piece is actually telling you.
Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services
This is the first form you will see, and it usually comes out at the first real conversation about a property – before you tour anything, and certainly before you write an offer.
What it explains is who the agent works for. There are three positions you can be in:
- You are a client. The agent represents you. They owe you loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure and a duty to act in your best interests. This is what most people assume by default, and it is only true once you have agreed to it.
- You are a customer, unrepresented. The agent is being helpful and honest with you but is representing someone else – usually the seller. They must be fair and accurate, but they are not on your side of the table.
- You have no relationship yet. Just talking.
Signing this form does not commit you to anything. It confirms the conversation happened. The important part is what it says, not that you signed it.
Disclosure of Risks to Unrepresented Parties
If you decide to go without your own representation – dealing directly with the listing agent, for example – you will be given this. It sets out plainly what you are giving up: the agent cannot advise you on price, cannot advise you on strategy, and cannot keep your information confidential from the person they do represent.
People sometimes go unrepresented believing it saves them money. Read this form carefully first, because what it describes is a real trade.
One agent cannot represent both sides
In British Columbia an agent generally cannot represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. There are narrow exceptions in genuinely remote areas where there is no practical alternative, and those require specific consent. In practice, if you are in the Fraser Valley or Metro Vancouver, expect the answer to be no – and that rule exists for your protection, not as an inconvenience.
The buyer’s agency agreement
If you want an agent working for you, this is what makes it formal. Read three things before you sign:
- How long it runs. A defined term, not open-ended.
- What geography and what property type it covers.
- How it ends. A reasonable agreement can be ended if the relationship is not working.
The point of the agreement is that it turns advice into a duty. Without it, you are getting help. With it, you are getting representation.
The listing agreement, if you are selling
Same principle, from the other side. It sets the term, the commission and how it is split with a cooperating brokerage, what marketing is included, and what happens if you want out. It also confirms whether your property goes on the MLS® system and gets distributed widely, or whether you are restricting the exposure – which some sellers choose, and which almost always costs them.
The Property Disclosure Statement
The seller fills this out about their own property – past leaks, work done, whether there are permits, what they know about the roof. It is one of the most useful documents you will read as a buyer.
But it records what the seller is aware of. It is a statement of knowledge, not a warranty and not an inspection. A seller who genuinely does not know about a problem has not misled you by not disclosing it. Read it, ask questions about anything answered “do not know”, and still get the inspection.
The Contract of Purchase and Sale
This is the one that matters. It is the actual deal. The parts worth slowing down for:
- The subject clauses. What has to be satisfied, and by when. Their exact wording decides whether you can walk away and what happens to your deposit.
- The three dates. Completion, possession and adjustment – they are usually different days, and they each mean something different.
- The included items. If you want the washer, the dryer, the shed or the light fixture in the dining room, it must be written in. “It was there when we viewed it” is not a term of contract.
- The deposit. How much, when it is due, and where it is held – it goes into the brokerage trust account, not to the seller.
Who is watching all this
Real estate professionals in British Columbia are licensed and regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority. If you ever want to check that the person you are dealing with is licensed and in good standing, you can look it up. Most people never need to, but you are entitled to.
The short version
The forms are there to make one question explicit: whose side is this person on? Everything else follows from the answer. Ask it directly, get the answer in writing, and read the contract clauses that decide when you can walk away.
If you are at the beginning of this and would rather have somebody walk you through it in plain language with no pressure, that is a perfectly reasonable thing to ask any of our agents for.