Developers of pre-sale condos and other strata lots

Developers of real estate in B.C. are required to collect and report comprehensive information about assignments of purchase agreements for pre-sale condos and other strata lots.

Information on all assignments of purchase agreements signed on or after January 1, 2019 must be entered into the Condo and Strata Assignment Integrity Register (CSAIR).

Information is collected from both the assignor and assignee before the developer consents to an assignment.

Providing consent

If you’re going to allow a purchase agreement to be assigned, then you must include in the purchase agreement:

• a term prohibiting an assignment without your prior consent
• a notice that you’ll need to collect all prescribed information and records, including personal information, before giving consent, and
• a term requiring all proposed parties to an assignment agreement to give you these information and records

Developers must not consent to any assignment of a purchase agreement unless they first collect the prescribed information from each party to the agreement.

Accessing CSAIR

You report information in CSAIR through your myLTSA account. Visit the Land Title and Survey Authority of B.C. for more information and to sign up if you do not already have a myLTSA account. 

Adding your developments to CSAIR

Developments must be added to CSAIR in order to report an assignment or make a statement certifying that there were no assignments during a reporting period.

Developments must be added to CSAIR as soon as you file your Disclosure Statement with BC Financial Services Authority.

The date you add your development to CSAIR determines the earliest filing window you can file a report. It's important to add your development right away so you can begin your reporting obligations on time.

Phased developments

If you're marketing a phased development, enter each phase separately in CSAIR. This will ease your reporting obligations each quarter and help you understand your reporting requirements for each phase.

Reporting obligations

Before the strata plan is deposited

Your reporting obligations begin as soon as you enter into the first purchase agreement for a condo or strata lot in a particular development. All information is reported in CSAIR.

You report quarterly until the strata plan is deposited with the land title office. The quarters are:

• Q1: January 1 to March 31
• Q2: April 1 to June 30
• Q3: July 1 to September 30
• Q4: October 1 to December 31

Information must be filed in CSAIR within 30 days after the end of each quarter. This is the called the filing window for each quarter:

• Q1 is open for filing April 1 to 30
• Q2 is open for filing July 1 to 30
• Q3 is open for filing October 1 to 30
• Q4 is open for filing January 1 to 30
• Annual reporting is open for filing January 1 to 30

If there are no assignments during a reporting period, you must file a statement in CSAIR within the filing window (30 days after the end of that reporting period) certifying that there were no assignments during the period.

At the end of each reporting period you will identify in CSAIR whether or not the strata plan has been deposited with the land title office. At this reporting stage the development must include the strata plan details.

After the strata plan is deposited

When the strata plan is deposited, you must report assignment information in CSAIR by the end of the immediately following quarter. For example, if the strata plan is deposited February 8, you identify the strata plan deposit date by March 31. You must then report by June 30 and file within 30 days from the last day of the deposit reporting period, in this case July 30.

In addition to all reporting requirements, you must also report information that identifies all assignments related to the development property. All strata information should be added before the report is filed.

Reporting is then required within 30 days after December 31 and then annually for the next 6 years.

When to stop reporting

You can stop reporting on a particular development property as soon as one of the following happens and you indicate in CSAIR that you're filing the final report:

• You transferred title to all the strata lots in the development property
• The end of the 6th calendar year after the strata plan is deposited
• The development property ceases to be developed
• The development property is sold to another developer

Record keeping

You must keep records to support the information reported. You must also keep copies of every assignment agreement you consented to for at least 6 years after the deposit of the strata plan with the land title office. These records must be kept in your B.C. place of business or the address of service.

Developments that started before January 1, 2019

The requirement to collect and report information about assignments of purchase agreements for pre-sale condos and other strata lots began on January 1, 2019.

If you began marketing a development before January 1, 2019 and the strata plan had not yet been deposited by January 1, 2019, you were required to add the development in CSAIR and begin reporting.

Your reporting obligations continue until a trigger to stop filing is met.

Assignments

If there are no assignments during a reporting period, a statement certifying there were no assignments during the period must be filed in CSAIR within 30 days after the end of that reporting period.

Assignments that happened before January 1, 2019 do not fall within a reporting period and do not need to be reported in CSAIR. However, you must report assignments that happen on or after January 1, 2019.

To do this, you will need to collect the required information from both the assignor and assignee when you provide consent to the assignment.

If you're not required to consent to the assignment, you must still make reasonable efforts to collect the required information to report the assignment.

Exemptions

Generally, if a developer is exempt from the marketing and deposit holding requirements under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act, they are also exempt from the assignment reporting requirements.