Case Law Update Under British Columbia’s Real Estate Development Marketing Act ("REDMA")

Two recent decisions of the British Columbia Supreme Court underline the importance of complying with REDMA when marketing and selling new development properties. The decision in Woo v. ONNI Ioco Road Five Development Limited Partnership, 2012 BCSC 764 ("Woo") is the first decision addressing post closing rescission rights pursuant to section 21(3) of REDMA. The decision in Mazarei et al. v. Icon Omega Developments Ltd. 2012 BCSC 673 ("Icon"), meanwhile, is the first decision to clearly apply REDMA to contracts of purchase and sale for projects located outside of British Columbia.

In Woo, the purchasers had signed their contracts of purchase and sale and obtained the original disclosure statement filed with the Superintendent of Real Estate for the project. Subsequently, the developer made various amendments to the disclosure statement and filed those amendments with the Superintendent of Real Estate. However, in apparent violation of section 16(1)(b) of REDMA,