BC Home Buyer Rescission Period: The 3-Day Rule and What Walking Away Costs

Walking away from an accepted offer on a typical Vancouver house costs $6,878.50. On a typical Surrey condo it's $1,247.50. That's the Home Buyer Rescission Period: three business days after your offer is accepted, you can cancel for any reason by giving the seller written notice and paying 0.25% of the price.

Those two figures use the median asking price of active listings on EstateBlock today ($2,751,400 for a detached house in Vancouver, $499,000 for a condo in Surrey). They are asking prices, not sale prices, but the fee is simple enough that you can do it on any number: $250 for every $100,000. A $1 million home costs $2,500 to walk away from.

The rule has been in force since January 3, 2023. Almost three years in, the practical questions come down to five: when exactly does the clock run out, is it worth paying, what happens to my deposit, does it work on a presale, and as a seller, can I do anything about it. Here are the answers, with the numbers.

Source: Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, ss. 4 and 6; B.C. government news release, Jan. 3, 2023; BCFSA, 2026 Data Call and HBRP Reporting Summary Report (July 2026).

The rule in plain words

The right itself is one sentence in section 42 of the Property Law Act: a buyer of residential real property can rescind the contract by serving written notice on the seller within the prescribed number of days after the acceptance was signed. The Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation fills in the rest:

• Length: 3 business days. A business day is any day other than a Saturday or a holiday, and Sunday counts as a holiday.
• Cost: the buyer must promptly pay the seller 0.25% of the purchase price in the contract. Not the list price, not the first offer: the price both sides signed.
• No waiver: the right can't be waived. A clause saying "buyer waives the rescission period" does nothing, and BCFSA says the right applies even if the contract doesn't mention it.
• No reason needed: the buyer doesn't have to explain, and doesn't have to tell the seller why.
• Buyers only: sellers have no matching right. If you're selling, an accepted offer binds you; it only binds the buyer once the three days pass.

Two more details from BCFSA's FAQ that catch people. If there are two or more buyers on the contract, any one of them can rescind for all of them; if the others still want the home, they need a new offer. And the fee is fixed: BCFSA says the buyer and seller can't agree to a higher or lower amount.

The province called it the first rule of its kind in Canada when it was announced on July 21, 2022. It applies whether or not a REALTOR® is involved, so private sales are covered too.

When the clock runs out

This is where most mistakes happen, so slowly. Day one is the first business day after the day the acceptance is signed. The period ends at 11:59 p.m. on the third business day. BCFSA's examples: accepted on a Monday, it ends Thursday night. Accepted on a Friday or a Saturday, it ends Wednesday night.

Source: Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, ss. 1 and 4; examples for Monday, Friday and Saturday from BCFSA HBRP FAQ and BCFSA HBRP Guideline; other days counted the same way.

Holidays push it out, but only the ones in the Interpretation Act, section 29. BCFSA warns that this list is not the same as the employment-standards list of stat holidays. It names Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Canada Day, Victoria Day, B.C. Day, Labour Day, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Remembrance Day, Family Day, New Year's Day and December 26, plus any day proclaimed as a holiday or a day of thanksgiving (ask your lawyer about Thanksgiving). Easter Monday and December 26 are the two I'd double-check.

One trap goes the other way. When a holiday falls on a weekend, the "day in lieu" on Monday is not an extra day off the clock, according to BCFSA. That matters this Christmas, when December 26 is a Saturday.

Source: business days per the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, s. 1 and holidays per the Interpretation Act, s. 29; weekend-holiday treatment per the BCFSA HBRP FAQ. Dates counted by Dan Marusin PREC; have your lawyer or notary confirm your own deadline.

Look at the Easter row. Accept an offer on the Thursday before Good Friday and the buyer has until the following Thursday night, a full week. The Christmas row is the opposite surprise: Monday, December 28 counts as a business day, so a buyer who signed on December 23 has until Tuesday night, not Wednesday.

For long weekends that aren't on that list, and for anything that looks borderline, get your lawyer or notary to give you the date in writing. BCFSA's FAQ itself tells licensees and clients to consider legal advice when calculating it, "in view of the potentially significant consequences".

How notice has to be served. It has to be in writing and include the property's address, PID or description, the name and signature (an e-signature is fine) of the buyer rescinding, the name of every seller, and the date. It's deemed served the moment it's sent if it goes by registered mail, fax, or email with a read receipt requested, to the address, fax number or email set out in the contract. It can be served on any day, including a weekend. That's why the contact details in the contract matter: BCFSA notes that many sellers don't want their personal email on the contract, so licensees often put their own contact details there instead. That's a choice to make deliberately.

What it costs on today's prices

Here's the fee on the median asking price of each home type in eight Metro Vancouver cities. Again, these are asking prices of active listings on EstateBlock, not sale prices. If your accepted price is lower than the asking price, your fee is lower too, because it's 0.25% of the contract price.

Source: EstateBlock.com live listings, snapshot Oct 23, 2026 (median asking prices of active listings, not sale prices); fee = 0.25% under the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, s. 6. Fees rounded to the dollar.

West Vancouver$9,493Vancouver$6,879North Vancouver$5,714Richmond$5,706Burnaby$5,246Langley$4,605Coquitlam$4,480Surrey$4,000

Source: EstateBlock.com live listings, snapshot Oct 23, 2026 (median asking prices of active listings, not sale prices); fee = 0.25% under the Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, s. 6

Show the numbers

City	Fee
West Vancouver	$9,493
Vancouver	$6,879
North Vancouver	$5,714
Richmond	$5,706
Burnaby	$5,246
Langley	$4,605
Coquitlam	$4,480
Surrey	$4,000

So the range for most buyers is about $1,248 on a starter condo in Surrey to $6,879 on a Vancouver house, and $9,493 for a median West Vancouver house listed at $3,797,375. For a condo buyer in Vancouver at the $799,000 median, it's $1,997.50.

Put those numbers next to what else is moving. The Greater Vancouver Realtors detached benchmark was $1,784,700 in September, down 0.8% from August. On that benchmark, one month's move was about $14,000; the rescission fee is $4,462. That's history, not a forecast, but it tells you something: in a market where prices drift a few tenths of a percent a month, 0.25% isn't a big deterrent. It's meant to stop people from rescinding casually. It doesn't stop someone who has found a real problem.

Source: Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, s. 6(1); B.C. government news release, July 21, 2022 ($250 per $100,000).

What happens to your deposit

If the seller's side is holding a deposit (usually in the listing brokerage's trust account), the regulation takes the fee straight out of it. The seller gets 0.25%, and the rest has to be paid back to the buyer promptly. BCFSA's guideline is explicit that this happens without the usual signed mutual release, and that it overrides a contract term calling the deposit "non-refundable".

A hypothetical: say you buy a Burnaby townhouse at $918,000, the median asking price there today, with a 5% deposit of $45,900. You rescind on day two. The seller receives $2,295. You get $43,605 back. BCFSA says "promptly" means as soon as possible, which in practice can mean waiting for the deposit cheque or transfer to clear the trust account first.

If there's no deposit yet, the debt is still there. The buyer owes the 0.25% anyway, and if they won't pay, BCFSA tells sellers to get legal advice on collecting it. The regulation doesn't set a deadline for paying the deposit; the contract does. Sellers who want the fee to be easy to collect should care about that date.

What's covered and what isn't

Source: Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, ss. 2 and 3; Property Law Act, s. 42(2) and (3); BCFSA HBRP FAQ (leased pads, float homes, commercial, vacant lots, assignments).

The leasehold exemption is the one I'd watch in Metro Vancouver, where prepaid leasehold condos do come up for sale. If you're buying leasehold, assume you have no three-day window and write your subjects accordingly. BCFSA says float homes are out too, that strata hotel ownership structures "can be complex", and that a mixed-use property with a structure that clearly isn't residential may not qualify. Ask a lawyer before you rely on it. A bare land strata lot can be covered even without a house on it.

New homes are covered unless the sale falls under section 21 of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act. The province said so when the rule took effect: it applies to resale and newly built homes. A new home sold without a disclosure statement is in; a condo tower sold off a disclosure statement uses the separate presale rule below.

Rescission vs subjects vs the presale 7-day rule

Source: Property Law Act, s. 42; Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation; Real Estate Development Marketing Act, s. 21; BCFSA HBRP Guideline (subjects run concurrently; good faith; access). *7 days after the later of signing and acknowledging the disclosure statement.

The important line in BCFSA's guideline: the rescission period starts at acceptance whether the offer has subjects or not, and the subject periods run at the same time. It's not a free three days added before your subjects start.

BCFSA gives an example that shows how the two fit together. A contract gives the buyer five days to remove a financing subject. If the buyer wants out using that subject, they need to show they tried in good faith to get financing and couldn't. But if on day two they simply decide not to go ahead, financing or not, they can rescind and pay the fee. Subjects get you out for free when a specific condition fails. The rescission period gets you out for any reason, for a price, but only for three business days.

And the rescission period doesn't give you a right to get into the house. BCFSA is clear that relying on it alone doesn't guarantee the seller will let your inspector in. If you want an inspection, write a subject for it.

Presales are a different animal. Under REDMA section 21, a buyer of a development unit gets 7 days to cancel after the later of signing and acknowledging the disclosure statement, with no fee: the deposit comes back. If you never got the disclosure statement you were entitled to, the right to rescind generally has no time limit. My presale buying guide and the presale vs resale comparison go through the rest of that contract.

How often buyers actually use it

Rarely. BCFSA has asked brokerages to report every rescission, and the numbers have stayed in the low hundreds a year for the whole province.

Source: BCFSA Real Estate Brokerage Data Call and HBRP Reporting summary reports: 2024, 2025, 2026. BCFSA says the counts are not directly comparable year to year because reporting changed; the 2023 count covered only about half of brokerages' full-year filings. Reports published Aug 2024, Jul 2025 and Jul 2026.

A few things stand out. Buyers who rescind tend to use most of the window: BCFSA's average was 2.2 days in its first report and 3 days in the last two. In the 2026 report, 796 of the 916 brokerages BCFSA asked (87%) reported no rescissions in 2025. BCFSA's conclusion is that the tool is "used selectively rather than routinely". Detached houses made up 64% of 2025 rescissions, up from 53% the year before; residential strata lots were 24% (down from 29%) and townhouses 17% (up from 10%). Those are BCFSA's published shares; as printed they add to a little over 100%, so read them as rough proportions.

The average fee also tells you the price range. An average fee of $3,060 works back to an average contract price of about $1,224,000 for 2024 rescissions; $2,390 works back to about $956,000 for 2025. That 2025 figure is below Greater Vancouver's September composite benchmark of $1,075,900, so this isn't only a luxury-market tool.

Why so few? Part of it is the market. In BCFSA's 2026 sample (sales with firm dates from February 15 to March 14), 96% of accepted offers had at least one condition and only 4% were unconditional (that condition data excludes transactions pulled from Greater Vancouver's MLS®, where the sample in 2024 showed 20% unconditional). When almost every offer has inspection and financing subjects, buyers who find a problem walk away under a subject for free. The rescission period is the backup for the deals where they didn't have that protection.

What I'd do as a buyer

Don't treat it as your inspection period. Three business days is short, and the seller doesn't have to let your inspector in. If the property needs an inspection, write the subject. If you're competing and want to go subject-free, book the inspection before you write the offer.

Know your deadline before you sign. Ask your agent to write the exact date and time in your notes the day the acceptance is signed, and check it against the holiday list above. Your REALTOR® is required to disclose your right of rescission and the fee amount on your specific offer when the offer is prepared, using either the standard contract or BCFSA's disclosure form.

Use the three days for the things subjects don't cover. Re-run your numbers with the closing cost calculator (PTT is usually the big one; my PTT breakdown has it by city), read the strata documents if it's a condo (the depreciation report is where special levies hide), and talk to your lender about the specific property. First-time buyers: my first-time buyer guide lists what to check.

If you're going to rescind, do it properly and early. Use the contract's email, fax or registered-mail address, request a read receipt on email, include everything the regulation lists, and keep a copy. Your agent can send it for you with written instructions. Don't leave it for 11:50 p.m. on day three.

Don't over-offer because you "can always back out". $6,879 on a Vancouver house is real money you don't get back. My read: the fee is low enough to protect you from a genuine mistake and high enough that using it as a strategy is a bad habit.

What I'd do as a seller

Your deal isn't firm until the three days pass. You're bound from acceptance; the buyer isn't until the period ends. Keep that in mind before you cancel showings, tell other buyers you've sold, or commit to buying your next home on firm terms.

Back-up offers have their own clock. BCFSA says a back-up buyer's three days start when you accept the back-up offer, not when the first deal collapses. A back-up buyer can be in and out of the window while the first deal is still pending.

Get the deposit in early. The fee comes out of the deposit automatically. Without one, you may be chasing the buyer for $2,500 per million through a lawyer.

Make sure notice can reach you. If the contract lists your agent's email, your agent has to tell you promptly when a notice arrives. Either way, know what's on the contract.

If you're weighing a sale and want to know what the house is likely to fetch, the home value estimator is a starting point, and the B.C. closing costs breakdown shows where the rescission fee fits among everything else.

FAQ

How long is the home buyer rescission period in BC?

Three business days. The count starts the day after the acceptance is signed and ends at 11:59 p.m. on the third business day. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays listed in the Interpretation Act (including Easter Monday and December 26) don't count.

How much does it cost to rescind an accepted offer in BC?

0.25% of the purchase price in the contract, paid to the seller: $250 per $100,000, or $2,500 on a $1 million home. If the seller's side holds a deposit, the fee comes out of it and the rest goes back to the buyer.

Can a buyer or seller waive the rescission period?

No. The regulation says the right can't be waived, and the fee can't be changed by agreement. It applies even if the contract doesn't mention it.

Does the 3-day rescission period apply to presales?

Not to presales sold with a disclosure statement under the Real Estate Development Marketing Act. Those buyers have a separate 7-day rescission right with no fee. New homes sold without a disclosure statement are covered by the 3-day rule.

Which properties are exempt from the home buyer rescission period?

Homes on leased land, leasehold interests, homes sold at auction, and homes sold under a court order or court supervision. Commercial property is not covered, and neither are assignments of a contract.

Sources

1. Property Law Act, s. 42 and 43 (right of rescission)
2. Home Buyer Rescission Period Regulation, B.C. Reg. 175/2022
3. Interpretation Act, s. 29 (definition of holiday)
4. Real Estate Development Marketing Act, s. 21 (presale rescission)
5. BCFSA: Home Buyer Rescission Period
6. BCFSA: Home Buyer Rescission Period FAQ
7. BCFSA: Home Buyer Rescission Period Guideline
8. B.C. government: B.C. enhances consumer protection for homebuyers (July 21, 2022)
9. B.C. government: New protections in place for homebuyers in B.C. (Jan. 3, 2023)
10. BCFSA: Real Estate Brokerage Data Call and HBRP Reporting, 2024 Summary Report
11. BCFSA: Real Estate Brokerage Data Call and HBRP Reporting, 2025 Summary Report
12. BCFSA: 2026 Summary Report, Real Estate Brokerage Data Call and HBRP Reporting (July 2026)
13. Greater Vancouver Realtors: September 2026 stats package (benchmarks)
14. EstateBlock.com: live listings, snapshot Oct 23, 2026 (asking prices, not sale prices)