Real Estate Regulation
Real estate is a highly regulated industry. For example, the business of operating a multi-family residential property is regulated by increasingly complex regimes that include human rights obligations under the Human Rights Code, the retention, use, and collection of personal information under the Personal Information Protection Act, compliance obligations under the Residential Tenancy Act, and municipal regulation of building standards.
Our lawyers frequently conduct hearings before administrative tribunals. We also have experience challenging administrative decision making through judicial review, before superior and appellate courts. Representative experience of our lawyers in this area includes the following:
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Acting for a major trade association of residential landlords to advocate successfully for revisions to an Investigation Report issued by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia. This Investigation Report greatly restricted the ability of residential landlords to perform credit checks on prospective residential tenants.
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Appealing to the BC Court of Appeal the decision of a chambers judge on judicial review who adopted a narrow and incorrect interpretation of a residential landlord's ability to end a tenancy for renovation purposes under the Residential Tenancy Act.
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Obtaining an order from the Residential Tenancy Branch of British Columbia permitting a manufactured home park landlord to increase the rents of all of its tenants above the maximum annual amount ordinarily permitted by statute because of an extraordinary capital expense.
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Providing legal regulatory compliance advice to a multi-billion dollar landlord entity about the collection and use of personal information for tenant screening for prospective tenants of its residential portfolio.
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Successfully challenging decisions to impose vacancy tax on residential homeowners in the City of Vancouver.
Our lawyers also advise real estate brokerages, including project marketing brokerages and real estate licensees, about their regulatory obligations under the Real Estate Services Act. We also represent real estate professionals facing professional misconduct proceedings.