Vancouver Island Real Estate Board
| Specific Topics of Lobbying Communications | Intended Outcomes | Associated Subject Matters |
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Anti-money laundering
BCREA, member boards and BC’s REALTORS® are committed to doing their part to
prevent money laundering in real estate. BCREA and member boards have worked to
combat money laundering by:
• participating in the Cullen Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British
Columbia on February 17,
• launching a nine-week Mastering Compliance: Anti-Money Laundering Training for
Brokers program in October 2020,
• recommending mandatory anti-money laundering education. In January 2020, the
Real Estate Council of BC implemented this through the launch of a Anti-Money
Laundering in Real Estate course,
• providing a series of updated anti-money laundering resources with help from
managing brokers and compliance officers. In 2020, these resources included four
blog posts, sixteen newsletters, 12 social media posts, as well as infographics,
podcasts, FAQs and digital workshops,
• developing cashless deposits as a best practice in real estate transactions in April
2019,
• working with four other real estate organizations to make a joint statement on antimoney laundering in April 2019, including providing recommendations to the BC
Government,
• meeting with Maureen Maloney’s Expert Panel on Money Laundering and Peter
German and sending submissions to them in March 2019, and
• working with Deloitte to look for money laundering vulnerabilities in real estate in February 2019.
We recommend:
• invest in public education campaigns focused on how to detect and avoid red flags in
the mortgage process,
• let the Cullen Commission of Inquiry Into Money Laundering in British Columbia
complete its work before implementing additional significant anti-money laundering
measures, and
• coordinate actions with the federal government to create a comprehensive, efficient
enforcement and regulatory regime.
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Non-Profit Organization
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BCREA recommends the provincial government take the following actions:
1. Consult with real estate sector stakeholders and homeowners before requiring energy
assessments on existing homes.
2. Ensure that an energy assessment tool is available to owners of all existing homes.
3. Coordinate an energy assessment tool with other programs.
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Non-Profit Organization
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Energy Efficiency and Homes, Improving Housing Supply
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Housing
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Improving Housing Supply
First, we’d like to see Official Community Plans – or OCPs – empowered to reduce
unnecessary public hearings.
Our second recommendation is for the province to leverage transportation funding
and OCPs to encourage local governments to increase gentle densification.
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Non-Profit Organization
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In recent months, the cost of strata insurance has increased significantly for many BC buildings. We wish for improvement in the handling of strata documents during sales transactions.
For the second time since 2016, the regulatory system for REALTORS® is being changed.
We wish to ensure the regulatory structure and changes to the practice of real estate meet the needs of professionals and protect the interests of consumers.
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Consumer Issues
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Real estate practice; For the second time since 2016, the regulatory system for REALTORS® is being changed. We wish to ensure the regulatory structure and changes to the practice of real estate meet the needs of professionals and protect the interests of consumers.
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Industry
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Speculation and Vacancy Tax
In 2020, BCREA’s economists published a Market Intelligence report, estimating the impacts
of the Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT). To date, this is the only quantitative assessment
of the impact of the SVT. The report found that the SVT had negative impacts on home
sales and prices, but the impacts were temporary and appeared to be limited to Metro
Vancouver. Within Metro Vancouver, it is difficult to disentangle impacts of the SVT on the
rental market with impacts from the Empty Homes Tax and short-term rental regulations that
were implemented around the same time.
We recommend eliminating the SVT
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Development of any legislative proposal by the government of British Columbia, a Provincial entity or a member of the Legislative Assembly
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Consumer Issues
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