Pre-Sale Delays and Disclosure Amendments: When Can a BC Buyer Walk Away?

Completion pushed back again. An amendment to the disclosure statement arrives with new dates, a smaller amenity or a different layout. Many BC pre-sale buyers in that position want to know if they can get out and get their deposit back.

Sometimes you can, but receiving an amendment is not by itself a reason to cancel. The answer depends on your contract and on whether the developer met its disclosure obligations under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act (REDMA).

Start with the dates in your contract

Pre-sale contracts often give an estimated completion date or window, let the developer extend it for certain delays, and set an outside date by which the project must complete. Read the extension clause and the outside date clause together: they decide how long the developer can take and what happens if it runs out of time. BC Financial Services Authority warns buyers that delays can lead to the contract being extended or ended, and that prices can rise or fall in the meantime.

If the outside date passes without completion, your contract should say what each side can do. If it has not passed, a delay on its own usually gives you no right to cancel, however frustrating it is.

An amendment alone does not give you a cancellation right

Many buyers assume a new 7-day cancellation period starts every time they receive an amendment. It does not. Section 21 of REDMA says a buyer has no right of rescission just because they receive an amendment to a disclosure statement, unless they had never received a disclosure statement for that development before. The 7-day right runs from the later of signing the contract and acknowledging the disclosure statement (or a new disclosure statement). Our article on the 7-day rescission period explains how it works.

When a late or missing amendment matters

The developer must keep the disclosure statement accurate. Under section 16, once it becomes aware that the statement does not comply with the Act or contains a misrepresentation, it must immediately file an amendment (or a new disclosure statement) and give a copy to each buyer who has not yet received title within a reasonable time. A "material fact" is broad: anything that affects, or could reasonably be expected to affect, the value, price or use of the unit or development.

Two REDMA remedies follow from this:

• Missing amendment. Under section 21(3.2), you may rescind if you did not receive an amendment you were entitled to, about a material fact that was reasonably relevant to your decision to buy, as long as no more than one year has passed since title transferred.
• Developer's breach. Under section 23, a developer that breaches the marketing and deposit rules in Part 2 cannot enforce the purchase agreement against you. There are exceptions, including where an inaccurate statement is about something that would not have been reasonably relevant to your decision, or where the developer did not know about the misrepresentation and corrected it with an amendment filed within 30 days of learning of it and delivered at least 14 days before the completion date in your contract.

Recent BC Supreme Court decisions show these rules have teeth. In a 2025 case, contracts were found unenforceable and deposits returned where a developer moved the estimated completion window by a year and delivered the amendment to buyers about six months later. A 2026 decision held that disclosure breaches after the contract was signed can also make pre-sale agreements unenforceable. The outcome always turns on the facts, including how material the change was and how quickly the buyer was told.

Early-marketed projects: the building permit deadline

Some projects are marketed before a building permit is issued. Under BCFSA's Policy Statement 5, the developer must file an amendment with the building permit details within 12 months of filing the disclosure statement. If you have not received that amendment within those 12 months, you may cancel at any time after the 12-month period until you receive it. Until then, the deposit you can be required to pay is capped at 10% of the price, and on cancellation all deposits, plus any interest earned, must be returned promptly. If the permit, once issued, materially changes your unit, a major common facility or the general layout, you have seven days after receiving the amendment to cancel.

If the disclosure was wrong from the start

Separately from cancelling, section 22 of REDMA gives a buyer a right to sue for damages if a filed disclosure statement contained a misrepresentation. The buyer is deemed to have relied on it, and the claim can be brought against the developer, its directors and others who signed or authorized the statement, subject to defences in the Act.

Do not walk away the wrong way

Stopping payments or refusing to complete without a clear right is risky. If you miss a deposit and your contract allows it, the developer can cancel and have the deposit released to it, and may pursue other claims under the contract. A rescission notice must also be served in the way the regulations require. Before you act:

• collect your contract, the disclosure statement and every amendment, with the dates you received each one;
• note the completion window, any extension notices and the outside date;
• keep paying required deposits unless you have advice that you are entitled to stop.

If you would rather sell than cancel, our article on assigning a pre-sale contract covers that option, and our guide to completing a pre-sale condo covers what happens if the project does reach completion.

Wondering whether you can get out of your pre-sale?

Our real estate lawyers can review your purchase agreement, disclosure statement and amendments against the project timeline, advise whether you have a right to cancel, and prepare any notice so it is given properly.

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