Breach of Contract in BC: What You Can Claim and How Disputes Are Resolved

A supplier who never delivers, a customer who stops paying, a contractor who walks off the job: each can be a breach of contract. The practical question that follows is what you can actually recover, and where you go to get it.

This guide explains how BC law approaches a broken deal, the remedies available, the steps that protect your claim, and how the amount at stake decides whether your dispute goes to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, Small Claims Court or the Supreme Court.

What counts as a breach of contract

A contract is an agreement the law will enforce: an exchange of promises with terms clear enough to apply. Many contracts can be oral, or a mix of written and oral terms, but written terms are much easier to prove. A breach happens when one party does not do what it promised, or does it late or badly. Common examples:

• Non-performance. Goods never arrive, work is never done, or an invoice is never paid.
• Defective performance. Work or goods fall short of what the contract specified.
• Late performance. This matters most where timing was an essential term of the deal.
• Anticipatory breach. Before the due date, the other party makes clear it will not perform.

How serious the breach is changes your options. A breach that goes to the root of the contract may let you treat the contract as over. A lesser breach usually gives you a claim for money while you keep performing your own side. If you misjudge which one you are dealing with and stop performing, you can end up being treated as the party in breach.

What you can claim

Damages

Money damages are the usual remedy. The goal is to put you in the position you would have been in if the contract had been performed, not to punish the other side. That can include the extra cost of getting the same thing elsewhere, profits you lost as a foreseeable result of the breach, and out-of-pocket expenses the breach caused. You have to prove your loss, so quotes, invoices and records matter.

For example, if a contractor agreed to do a job for $20,000, walked off it, and a replacement charged $26,000 for the same work, the starting point for the claim is the $6,000 difference, plus any related costs you can prove.

Other remedies

• Specific performance. An order requiring the other party to do what it promised. Courts grant it only where money would not be an adequate remedy, usually where the subject matter is unique, which can include land. It is the exception, not the rule.
• Rescission. Undoing the contract and returning both parties to where they started, typically where you were induced to sign by a misrepresentation. Delay, or being unable to restore the original position, can rule it out.
• Liquidated damages. Some contracts fix in advance the amount payable on a breach. Courts generally enforce a genuine pre-estimate of loss, but may refuse to enforce a clause that works as a penalty.

Read the contract for terms that cap or exclude liability, require written notice of a claim within a set time, or send disputes to arbitration. These can change what you can claim and where.

The duty to mitigate

You cannot let losses pile up and send the bill to the other side. The law expects the innocent party to take reasonable steps to reduce its loss: finding a replacement supplier, re-letting a space, or reselling goods a buyer refused. Losses you could reasonably have avoided are generally not recoverable, while the reasonable costs of mitigating usually are.

Mitigation is judged by what was reasonable at the time, not with hindsight. Keep a record of what you did and why.

Steps that protect your claim

1. Gather the paper. Collect the contract and any amendments, emails and texts, invoices, and proof of payment and delivery.
2. Check the dispute terms. Look for notice requirements, cure periods, limitation of liability, and arbitration or forum clauses.
3. Send a clear demand. A demand letter that sets out the breach, what you want and a reasonable deadline often leads to payment or a negotiated settlement, and it shows a decision-maker that you tried.
4. Watch the clock. BC's Limitation Act sets a basic two-year limitation period for most civil claims, generally running from when the claim was discovered. Our guide to the two-year limitation rule in BC explains how discovery works. Miss the deadline and even a strong claim can be lost.
5. Keep settlement open. Negotiation and mediation remain available at every stage, and BC's small claims system actively encourages parties to settle by agreement rather than go to trial.

Consumer contracts carry extra rules

If you bought goods or services as a consumer, BC's Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act gives you rights in addition to those in the contract itself. Amendments already in force restrict terms that force consumers into costly private arbitration, limit class action participation or stop consumers from posting online reviews. Further changes the Province set for 1 August 2026 deal with the information businesses must give about refunds, returns and cancellation, and with automatic renewals made without notice or the consumer's approval.

If you run a business that sells to consumers, check your standard terms against the current rules. A clause the Act does not allow will not help you in a dispute.

Where your dispute is heard

In BC, the amount in dispute largely decides where a contract claim starts:

• Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT). Most small claims up to $5,000, including contract disputes, are handled by the CRT, an online tribunal.
• Provincial Court (Small Claims). Claims from $5,001 to $35,000 must usually be started in Small Claims Court, which uses simpler procedures than the Supreme Court.
• Supreme Court of British Columbia. Claims over $35,000 are heard here, along with matters the other forums cannot deal with, such as injunctions.

Each forum has its own rules, fees and timelines, and starting in the wrong one costs time. Our article on whether your dispute belongs at the CRT, Small Claims or the Supreme Court explains the differences in more detail.

Winning is only part of the job. If the other side does not pay an order or judgment voluntarily, you may need to use the enforcement tools covered in our guide to enforcing a judgment in BC. Whether the other party can actually pay is worth weighing before you start.

Dealing with a broken contract? Check your position before you act

Our litigation lawyers can review your contract and the paper trail, assess what you may be able to claim and what you need to prove, prepare a demand letter, and advise on the right forum. If you run a business, we can also help you tighten your contracts so the same dispute is less likely to happen again.

Call 604-259-2844 or send us a message to arrange a consultation at our Vancouver office.