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LEGAL REPORT
REAL ESTATE
As B.C. braces for real estate rules to fight money
laundering, lawyers across the country expect stricter
rules on transparency to come
THERE'S MORE UP in the air than
housing prices for real estate lawyers in
British Columbia as the profession awaits
regulations that will bring the Land Owner
Transparency Act into force.
"Most lawyers who deal with real estate
know it's coming, they know generally what
it's about; but I think until [they] see the
draft regulations, the devil's always going to
be in the details," says Edward Wilson, a part-
ner at Lawson Lundell LLP in Vancouver.
He says clients have been asking what the
act means to them, because they're struc-
turing investment vehicles and going to the
investment markets to collect funds. What do
they tell potential investors?
"Right now, that's a challenge," says Wilson,
noting that it creates uncertainty investors
don't like. "We say here's what the act says,
here's what we think they're going to require
— but we don't know."
LOTA, which became law last May, is to be
administered by the Land Title and Survey
Authority. The act requires all landowners in
B.C. to report their identities to the govern-
ment, regardless of how they own it — either
directly, indirectly or through corporations,
The devil
in the details
