March 25 - Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV)

March 20, 2020 | Posted by: Kelleway Mortgage Architects

March 25, 2020
COVID-19: The latest updates from Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV)

Federal government announces new emergency financial aid

The federal government announced a new, $2,000 per month Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for Canadians who have lost their income due to COVID-19. This benefit program replaces the two benefits announced last week.

This taxable benefit will be provided for up to four months to:

• workers who must stop working due to COVID-19 and do not have access to paid leave or other income support;

• workers who are sick, quarantined, or taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19;

• working parents who must stay home without pay to care for children that are sick or need additional care because of school and daycare closures;

• workers who are still employed but aren’t being paid because there’s currently not sufficient work and their employer has asked them not to come to work; and

• wage earners and self-employed individuals, including contract workers, who would not otherwise be eligible for Employment Insurance.

Prime Minister Trudeau promised the benefit will be paid out to workers within 10 days of their application.

How to apply

Application details will be available through My CRA and My Service Canada, beginning the first week of April.

Read the announcement.

Conveyancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Over the past week, both the Law Society of BC (which regulates lawyers) and the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) have published information about land transfer processes. Bottom line: So far, an in-person meeting with a lawyer or notary is still required.

The Land Title Act requires buyers and sellers to appear before an officer to execute the documents. There are a couple of options to accommodate social distancing:

• The LTSA will accept an affidavit of execution (written statement sworn under oath) – speak with a lawyer to learn more about how to make that happen.

• The witness and the party to the transaction can sign identical copies of the same document at the same time to allow them to avoid having to handle the same physical pages when meeting.

At this time, remote or videoconference witnessing isn’t allowed. BCREA is in contact with the legal community and other stakeholders to look for options that provide more flexibility. We’ll share more information as it becomes available.

Avoiding in-person interactions

Given the COVID-19 situation in our province, your Board continues to strongly recommend that all members refrain from holding Open Houses, avoid in-person interactions as much as possible and adhere to the most up-to-date physical-distancing requirements from our government and public health officials.

Last week, we removed the rule requiring that properties listed on MLS® be made available for showings and disabled the Open House feature on Paragon.

We encourage you to employ other approaches to Open Houses and other in-person interactions, such as virtual showings and other technology-based solutions.

Please work with your clients, and their tenants where applicable, to discuss how to responsibly achieve their housing and shelter needs amid today’s public health emergency.

The provincial government announced today that, while the provincial emergency order is in place, landlords are not permitted to enter a tenant’s rental space (for showings, routine maintenance etc.) without the tenant’s consent. Exceptions were given to protect health and safety or to prevent undue damage to the unit.

This is a rapidly evolving situation, as you know. We’ll continue to closely monitor the latest information and instruction from government and adapt our advice to you.

Learn more about the latest physical-distancing requirements using the below resources.

COVID-19 resources

• BC Centre for Disease Control

• Healthlink BC – COVID-19 Resources

Provincial government announces rental support, landlord restrictions, and an eviction moratorium

The provincial government announced a temporary $500 per month rental supplement for renters in BC today along with other rental-related measures in response to the COVID-19 situation in the province.

The rental supplement will be available to low-to-moderate income renters who have lost income due to the COVID-19 crisis and will be paid directly to landlords through BC Housing.

The announced measures also:

• Halt evictions by ensuring landlords can’t issue new notices to end tenancy for any reason, except in situations where it may be needed to protect health and safety, or to prevent undue damage to the property.
• Halt enforcement of existing eviction notices, except in extreme cases where there are safety concerns.

• Freeze annual rent increases during the state of emergency starting April 1.

• Prevent landlords from accessing rental units without the tenant’s consent except in situations where it may be needed to protect health and safety, or to prevent undue damage to the property.

• Restrict the ways that landlords and renters can serve notices.

• Allow landlords to restrict their tenants and guests from using common areas.

Real estate regulator extends financial reporting deadlines for brokerages

Given the exceptional circumstances and the additional business pressures that brokerages are under, the Real Estate Council of BC and the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate have temporarily extended the deadlines for regulatory reporting requirements for brokerages during this crisis.

In a joint statement today, the two regulating bodies temporarily extended the deadlines for yearly filings known as Accountant’s Reports, to allow additional time for brokerages as they deal with the challenges of the current environment.

Brokerages with filings due between March 1 and April 30, 2020 will have until June 1 to file their reports with RECBC.

The announcement said that this doesn’t absolve strata management brokerages of obligations under section 7-9 of the Rules, which outline reporting requirements to client(s).

Brokerages with filings due between March 1 and April 30 will be contacted directly by RECBC with more information about the temporary extension.

Full statement.

Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver