Assignment Collection and Filing Obligations

Articles
1. Who must file with the CSAIR?

Any developer that enters into a presale purchase agreement in respect of “development property” is obligated to file with the CSAIR a report within 30 days of the end applicable reporting period, as described below. Note that “development property” is defined under the legislation and excludes certain presale purchase agreements such as developments with four or less strata lots, or developments that are otherwise exempt from the disclosure requirements under the legislation (i.e., industrial or commercial developments).

2. What must be filed with the CSAIR?

The report must either certify that no assignments occurred during the applicable reporting period, or, if one or more assignments did occur during the applicable reporting period, the report must set out certain information regarding the parties to these assignments and the assignments themselves. For further details regarding this information, please see this page of the Province’s website. In addition, within 30 days of the applicable Deposit Reporting Period (as described below) a developer must also file a report that identifies each assignment reported to date and specifies the final parcel identifier numbers assigned to the specific strata lots.

3. When must reports be filed with the CSAIR?

A developer must file a report with the CSAIR for the reporting period in which the first presale purchase agreement in respect of the applicable development is entered into, and for each subsequent reporting period until the date the developer has conveyed all the strata lots in the development, or if earlier, the date that is the last day of the sixth annual reporting period. Each report must be filed within 30 days of the expiration of the applicable reporting period. The duration of each reporting period differs as the applicable development progresses; however, generally speaking, the reporting period are as follows:

    1. The Initial Reporting Period. This reporting period is each quarter of the year (January 1 to March 31, April 1 to June 30, etc.) commencing and including the quarter in which the first presale purchase agreement is entered into in respect of the development, and ending on the last day of the quarter immediately before the Deposit Reporting Period described below. A developer must file a report with the CSAIR for each quarter within this Initial Reporting Period. For example, if a presale purchase agreement was entered into prior to or during this quarter (i.e, prior to, or between January 1 to March 31, 2019) and none of the below reporting periods are applicable, a developer is obligated to file a report with the CSAIR by April 30, 2019.
    2. The Deposit Reporting Period. This reporting period begins on the first day of the quarter of the year in which the strata plan is filed with the Land Title Office, and ends on the last day of the immediately following quarter of the year. For example, if a strata plan was filed on January 15, 2019, then this is the current reporting period (from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019), and a developer is obligated to a file a report with the CSAIR by July 30, 2019.
    3. The Subsequent Reporting Period. This reporting period begins on the day immediately after the end of the Deposit Reporting Period, and ends on December 31 of that calendar year. For example, if the strata plan was filed on January 15, 2019, then this reporting period would begin on July 1, 2019 and end on December 31, 2019, and a developer would be obligated to file a report in respect of this reporting period by January 30, 2020.
    4. The Annual Reporting Period. This reporting period is each calendar year after the Subsequent Reporting Period, with the developer being required to file the applicable report by January 30th of the year following the applicable Annual Reporting Period.

For further information regarding a developer’s reporting obligations, see this page at the Province’s website.

4. What must be kept by a developer?

A developer who has consented to an assignment of a presale purchase agreement must collect from the parties to the assignment a copy of the signed assignment, and must keep that copy at the developer’s place of business in British Columbia or at the developer’s address for service in British Columbia until the date that is six years following the filing of the strata plan in respect of the development.

5. How to file with the CSAIR?

The Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) has been tasked with facilitating the management of the CSAIR. Accordingly, developers will need to create accounts with the LTSA in order to satisfy their reporting obligations. For information regarding the filing of information with the CSAIR via the LTSA, please see this video tutorial released by the LTSA.