Practice area 3.2 · Real Estate & Conveyancing
Real estate & conveyancing
A conveyance is three weeks of paperwork standing between you and a set of keys. We do the paperwork, you keep the excitement, and the fee was on our website before you ever called.
1. This page is for you if
- 1.1
You have an accepted offer and a completion date that suddenly feels very close.
- 1.2
You are selling, and the buyer's lawyer keeps sending things you are expected to understand.
- 1.3
You are refinancing and the lender wants a lawyer to handle the new mortgage.
- 1.4
You are buying rural: well, septic, easements, and a driveway that crosses someone else's land.
2. What the work includes
Title search and review
We pull the title, read every charge on it, and tell you which ones matter before you are committed.
Mortgage and lender documents
Prepared, explained, and signed in one appointment, timed to the week of completion.
Statement of adjustments
The math of who owes what: taxes, utilities, deposits. Walked through line by line, in numbers that sit still.
Registration and completion
Filed with the Land Title Office on completion day, funds moved through trust, keys released on possession.
3. Clocks that may apply
Some rights in this area expire on a timetable, whether or not anyone mentions it. For starting a claim, the law calls that time a Limitation periodThe time limit for starting a legal claim. After it passes, the claim is usually gone for good.Most BC claims have two years from discovery. Our page on the clocks lists the common ones.Every term, defined. These are the clocks we watch on files like yours.
- 3.1Check your dates: Changing your mind on a home purchase
Changing your mind on a home purchase
3 business days from the day after your offer is accepted
General information about how BC counts these periods, not advice on your facts. Treat the date as the last possible day and act well before it.
4. What it costs
Purchases run $1,200 to $1,500, sales $950 to $1,250, refinances $900 to $1,150, always plus disbursements and taxes, which we list before you sign anything. Your exact figure is fixed in writing at the first meeting.
The estimate builder turns these figures into a range for your own file, with our fee, any DisbursementsOut-of-pocket costs a lawyer pays on your behalf and passes on at cost: registry fees, searches, courier.They are not the lawyer's fee. We list them before you sign anything and show each one on the bill.Every term, defined and the taxes each on a line of their own.
5. What happens next
The anxiety is almost never the law. It is not knowing what happens next. So here is what happens next.
- 5.1
Send us the accepted offer
Email it or drop it off. Same day, you get a written fee and a list of every document and dollar the file will need from you.
- 5.2
We search, gather, and flag
Title search, tax certificates, strata or rural documents where they apply. Anything unusual on title gets a phone call, not a footnote.
- 5.3
One signing appointment
The week of completion, about forty-five minutes. Every signature explained before the pen moves.
- 5.4
Completion day
We register at the Land Title Office, move the funds through trust, and call you the moment the keys are legally yours.
6. Who does the work
Rural files get our full attention on the unglamorous parts: water licences, septic records, and road access that exists on the ground but not on title. Bellwood property is rarely boring, and we like it that way.
7. What to bring to the first meeting
Whatever you can find is enough to start. If the file needs anything more, we tell you in writing.
- The accepted offer, with every addendum
- Your mortgage approval or commitment letter
- Two pieces of ID, one with a photo
- The deposit receipt from the realtor
- The signed contract of purchase and sale
- Your mortgage account number and lender's name
- Your property tax notice
If someone is on the other side, bring their names as well. We run a Conflict checkThe search a firm runs before taking you on, to make sure it has never acted for the person on the other side.It is why we ask for names before we ask for your story: if we cannot act for you, we should not hear the details.Every term, defined before we hear the details.
8. Reading, before you spend a dollar
9. Questions people actually ask
- Do I need a lawyer for a conveyance, or can a notary do it?
- In BC, both lawyers and notaries handle standard ConveyanceThe legal transfer of property from one owner to another. Conveyancing is all the work that makes it happen.Every term, defined, and for a clean transaction either works. The difference appears when something goes sideways: a title defect, a collapsing completion, a dispute over the deposit. A lawyer can advise on the dispute and act on it; a notary must send you elsewhere. You are welcome to ask us which your file actually needs.
- When do I actually get the keys?
- Possession date, which is usually a day or two after completion. Completion is the day money and title change hands at the Land Title Office; possession is the day the front door opens. Your contract sets both, and we confirm the timeline in writing at the first meeting.
- What will the disbursements be on top of the flat fee?
- Land Title Office registration fees, title search charges, tax certificates, and similar out-of-pocket costs that belong to your file. On a typical Bellwood purchase they run a few hundred dollars. You get the itemized list with your fee letter, before anything starts, and they are passed through at cost.
Begin with a conversation
Fifteen minutes on the phone, no charge, and an honest answer about whether you need a lawyer at all.