What is the home buyer rescission period?

Since January 3, 2023, a buyer of most residential property in BC can cancel an accepted offer within three business days, for any reason or none. They pay the seller 0.25% of the purchase price. Weekends and statutory holidays do not count toward the three days, and the right cannot be waived by either party.

When does the three business day clock start?

The day after acceptance is signed. So an offer accepted on a Monday, with no holiday in the way, can be rescinded until 11:59:59 pm on Thursday. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays as defined in the Interpretation Act do not count, so a Friday acceptance or a long weekend pushes the end date out.

How much does it cost a buyer to rescind?

0.25% of the purchase price, which works out to $250 for every $100,000. On a $600,000 purchase that is $1,500. On $800,000 it is $2,000. On $1,200,000 it is $3,000. Where the buyer paid a deposit to a brokerage, the brokerage pays the fee to the seller from those funds and returns the rest to the buyer.

How does a buyer rescind an offer in BC?

By serving written notice on the seller within the period. The notice must include the property address, parcel identifier or description, the name and signature of the buyer exercising the right, the name of each seller, and the date. It is deemed served if sent by registered mail, fax or email with a read receipt requested, to the contact details set out in the contract.

Which properties are exempt from the rescission period?

Residential property on leased land, which includes leasehold homes and manufactured homes on a leased pad. Residential property sold at auction. And residential property sold under a court order or court supervision. A manufactured home that is affixed to land the owner holds is covered.

Can a seller ask the buyer to waive the rescission period?

No. The right cannot be waived, even if both sides would prefer it. A seller cannot make waiver a condition of accepting an offer, and a buyer cannot give it away to make an offer more attractive. It exists by law regardless of what the contract says.

Does the rescission period apply to private sales without a REALTOR?

The right applies to the purchase of residential real property whether or not a real estate licensee is involved. What changes without a licensee is that there is nobody whose job it is to explain it to the buyer or handle the deposit, so both parties need to understand it themselves.

Is the rescission period the same as a subject to inspection clause?

No, and treating it as one is a mistake. Three business days is rarely enough to book an inspection, get a report and understand it, and rescinding costs you money while a failed subject clause generally does not. Use the rescission period as a safety valve for a genuine change of circumstances, and use proper subject clauses for due diligence.

The BC home buyer rescission period

By Dan Jones · September 12, 2026

Bottom line: since January 3, 2023, a buyer of most residential property in BC can cancel an accepted offer within three business days, for any reason or none, by paying the seller 0.25% of the purchase price. The clock starts the day after acceptance and skips weekends and statutory holidays, so a Monday acceptance runs until 11:59:59 pm Thursday. Nobody can waive it, not the buyer trying to strengthen an offer and not the seller trying to firm one up. Three exemptions matter, and one of them matters particularly here: property on leased land is exempt, which includes leasehold developments and manufactured homes on a leased pad, both of which exist in and around Penticton. Property sold at auction or under court order is also exempt. For a seller, the practical point is simple: the first three business days after you accept are not certain, so do not firm up your own purchase on an offer that is a day old.

I am Dan Jones, a REALTOR with Royal LePage Locations West in Penticton, licence number 1118346. I have been licensed since 2004, which means I sold houses for eighteen years before this rule existed and have worked under it since, and it has changed how I advise sellers to sequence their own moves more than it has changed how often deals fall apart.

I am not a lawyer. The mechanics below come from the regulation and from BCFSA, the regulator. How they apply to a contract with unusual terms is a question for a lawyer.

How the clock actually runs

Three business days, starting the day after acceptance is signed.

Saturdays, Sundays and holidays as defined in the Interpretation Act do not count. The period ends at 11:59:59 pm on the third business day.

Offer accepted	No holiday in the way, period ends
Monday	Thursday, 11:59:59 pm
Wednesday	Monday, 11:59:59 pm
Friday	Wednesday, 11:59:59 pm

A statutory holiday inside the window adds a day. A long weekend can make a Friday acceptance run well into the following week.

That matters for both sides. A seller who accepts on the Friday before a long weekend is uncertain for most of the next week. A buyer who thinks they have until Thursday because they counted calendar days may be wrong.

What it costs

0.25% of the purchase price. Put more usefully, $250 for every $100,000.

Purchase price	Rescission fee
$500,000	$1,250
$600,000	$1,500
$800,000	$2,000
$1,000,000	$2,500
$1,200,000	$3,000
$1,500,000	$3,750

Where the buyer has given a deposit to a brokerage, the brokerage pays the fee to the seller out of those funds and returns the balance to the buyer. So a buyer who rescinds does not typically write a separate cheque.

For the seller, it is compensation for three days of lost market time. It is not meant to make them whole on a collapsed sale, and it does not.

What a valid notice has to contain

This is where it gets technical, and where getting it wrong means the rescission may not be effective.

The notice must be in writing and must include:

The address, parcel identifier, or a description of the property
The name and signature, or electronic signature, of the buyer exercising the right
The name of each seller who is party to the contract
The date the right is being exercised

How it is served matters too. It is deemed served if sent:

By registered mail to the seller’s address set out in the contract
By fax to the seller’s fax number set out in the contract
By email, with a read receipt requested, to the seller’s email address set out in the contract

Notice the recurring phrase. The contact details that count are the ones in the contract. That is one of several reasons it matters that the contract has correct, current contact information for every seller.

BCFSA publishes a rescission notice form. Using it is the simplest way to make sure nothing is missed.

What is exempt

Three categories of residential property are exempt:

Property on leased land. This includes leasehold homes and manufactured homes on a leased pad. A manufactured home affixed to land the owner holds is covered. One on a rented pad in a park is not.

Property sold at auction.

Property sold under court order or the supervision of a court.

The leased land exemption is the one worth knowing locally. There is leasehold residential property in and around Penticton, including Skaha Hills, and there are manufactured home parks on leased pads. A buyer in either situation does not have the three day safety valve, and should do their thinking before they write rather than after.

It cannot be waived

Not by the buyer, and not by the seller.

A seller cannot make waiver a condition of accepting an offer. A buyer cannot give up the right to make a competing offer look firmer. It exists by law regardless of what the contract says, and a clause purporting to waive it does not remove it.

That is worth saying plainly because in a multiple offer situation someone will occasionally suggest it. It does not work.

What it means if you are selling

Do not firm up your own purchase on the strength of an offer inside its rescission period.

This is the single practical change. If you are selling one house and buying another, the sequence now has a three business day gap in it that did not exist before 2023. Removing subjects on your purchase the afternoon your sale was accepted means carrying the risk that your buyer rescinds by Thursday.

In practice rescissions are uncommon. But uncommon is not never, and the consequence of getting the sequence wrong is owning two houses. Making the dates work when you sell and buy covers the rest of that timing problem.

What it means if you are buying

It is a safety valve, not a due diligence period.

Three business days is rarely enough to book an inspection, receive a report, understand it and decide. And rescinding costs you money, while a subject clause that is not satisfied generally does not.

So write proper subject clauses for financing, inspection and, on a strata, the documents. Treat the rescission period as protection against a genuine change of circumstance: a job offer that falls through, a family emergency, a realisation on day two that you have made a serious mistake.

If you are buying on leased land or a leased pad, you do not have it at all.

Private sales

The right attaches to the purchase of residential property, whether or not a REALTOR is involved. What a private sale lacks is anyone whose job it is to explain it or to hold the deposit, which means both parties have to understand the mechanics themselves.

The listing-side view of what happens after you accept, including subject removal, is here: what happens once your house is listed.

Rules above come from the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation and BCFSA guidance and are current as of September 2026. Confirm current requirements before relying on them, and get legal advice on any contract with unusual terms.

If you are selling and buying at the same time and want the sequence worked out properly, email me at dano007@shaw.ca or call 250.488.0226.