Client guide · Real Estate & Conveyancing
What actually happens in a BC conveyance, start to keys
A conveyance is the legal machinery that moves a property from one owner to another. In BC it runs on a fixed sequence: search the title, prepare and sign the mortgage and transfer, settle the money, register the change, and release the keys. Most of it happens quietly in the weeks before completion.
G.1 The gap between accepted offer and completion
Once your offer is accepted and the conditions are removed, the sale is binding, but nothing has legally moved yet. The weeks between that moment and completion are when the conveyance actually happens, and most of it is invisible to you. Your lawyer or notary is reading title, ordering searches, and lining up the money.
Completion is a single day fixed in your contract. Everything before it exists to make that day boring, which is the goal. A boring completion means no surprises on title, no missing funds, and no last-minute scramble.
G.2 Searching and reading the title
The first real step is pulling the title from the Land Title Office and reading every charge registered against it. A charge is anything that clings to the land: mortgages, easements, rights of way, covenants, liens. Some are harmless and stay; some have to be cleared before you take ownership.
We tell you which charges matter and which are ordinary before you are committed to closing. If something unexpected sits on title, you hear about it in a phone call, not a footnote on completion day.
Alongside the title, we order tax and other certificates, so the adjustments later are built on current numbers rather than guesses.
G.3 Mortgage, transfer, and the signing appointment
If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender sends its instructions to your lawyer, who prepares the mortgage documents to match them exactly. The transfer, the document that actually changes ownership, is prepared at the same time.
You sign everything in one appointment, usually the week of completion and usually under an hour. Before any signature, each document is explained in plain terms: what it is, what it commits you to, and why it exists.
G.4 The statement of adjustments
The statement of adjustments is the arithmetic of who owes what on completion day. Property taxes, utilities, and any prepaid costs are split between buyer and seller based on the completion date, and your deposit is credited here too.
It looks dense the first time you see it, but it resolves to a single figure: the money you need to bring, or the money the seller receives. We walk through it line by line, so the final number is never a mystery.
G.5 Completion, possession, and the keys
On completion day, funds move through the lawyer's trust account, the transfer and any mortgage are registered at the Land Title Office, and ownership legally changes. Registration is electronic, but it still runs on a schedule, which is why the funds and documents are ready in advance.
Possession, the day you actually get the keys, is usually a day or two after completion and is set by your contract. Completion is the paperwork; possession is the front door.
Our conveyancing fees are flat and published, plus the disbursements that belong to your file. You can read the whole thing on the published fee schedule before you ever call.
G.6 Questions people actually ask
- How long does a conveyance take from start to finish?
- It follows your contract, not a fixed clock. Most residential files run two to four weeks between conditions coming off and completion, because that is the window your dates create. A rushed timeline is possible but leaves less room to resolve anything unusual on title, so the earlier your lawyer has the accepted offer, the calmer the file.
- Do I need a lawyer, or can a notary handle my conveyance?
- In BC both can handle a standard conveyance, and for a clean purchase or sale either is fine. The practical difference shows up when something goes wrong: a title defect, a collapsing completion, a fight over the deposit. A lawyer can advise on and act in a dispute; a notary has to refer you out. If your transaction has any complication, that difference is worth weighing.
G.7 Related reading
- Buying a rural property: wells, septic, and easements
- What a retainer really is, and where your money sits
Real Estate & ConveyancingThe practice page this guide supports.
This guide is general information about BC, not legal advice about your situation. For that, the consultation is ten minutes and free.
Begin with a conversation
Ten minutes on the phone, no charge, and an honest answer about whether you need a lawyer at all.