Residential Real Estate Conference 2025

Course Chairs
Timothy J. Lack — Redpoint Law LLP, Vancouver
Lisa Niro — Bell Alliance LLP, Vancouver

About the Course Chairs

Tim Lack has been the responsible lawyer for over 8,000 real estate transactions, acting for banks, credit unions and many other institutional and private lenders. His work with private lenders is extensive and he has been asked to provide expert opinions on private lending issues for litigation lawyers. He has lectured on several occasions to other lawyers on this subject.

On the real estate side of his practice, Tim has been involved in residential and commercial conveyancing, land assemblies, office and industrial leasing, including landlord and tenant disputes. As part of his real estate development work, Tim has counselled clients from acquisition, through development and to final sales on condo projects, including mixed use and hotel developments.

Tim represents hundreds of clients in all areas of business and commercial deals and is well experienced in the issues surrounding the purchase and sale of businesses.

Finally, his wills and estates practice continues to grow and Tim prides himself on providing delicate and trusted advice to his clients in this area of law.

Lisa Niro, the managing partner at Bell Alliance LLP, practices in the area of real estate. Having built a strong foundation in residential conveyancing, she now has a focus on commercial real estate transactions, commercial and private lending, development, and land assemblies. Lisa acts for developers, institutional and private lenders, as well as for individuals, corporations, and partnerships.

Before becoming a lawyer, Lisa worked as an urban planner and designer which allowed her to gain insight into the development industry and municipal approvals process.

Welcome
Elder Maria Reed Waabigekek Ikwe — Abbotsford

When Maria was a child she had a recurring dream that she was being chased on horseback by "wild Indians." Back then, she didn't know she was Indigenous, but now that she knows, the dream makes sense symbolically.

Like so many Indigenous people, her parents and grandparents were robbed of their heritage in residential schools and were fearful of discrimination, so they didn't practice their culture.

Like the dream she had as a child, however, Maria's Indigenous background would eventually catch up to her in her teens when one of her aunts discovered the family's Indigenous roots.

Maria hasn't looked back since, immersing herself in the culture. Her great-grandmother was from the Batchewana First Nation in Ontario, and her great grandfather was French and Métis.

Maria is French, Cree and Ojibway on her father's side and Swedish Sami on her mother's side. The Sami are Sweden's Indigenous people and known as Reindeer Herders.

Since finding out about her Indigenous roots in her teens, Maria has immersed herself in learning about her culture. "When I found out it was one of those aha moments," says Maria. Her Indigenous name, Waabigekek Ikwe, means White Hawk Woman.

Maria loves being an Elder and feels that everything she has done in the fields of wellness—body, mind and spirit—has come together to prepare her to be an Elder.

Early on, Maria took a course on Indigenous culture that exposed her to sweats, smudging, circles, and healing practices. Maria has worked as a Life Skills Coach and a Human Relations Counsellor and spent years working with Fraser Valley Aboriginal Health Council on health and wellness initiatives and as an Elder with Circle 5. "I learned a lot about human nature and a lot about myself," says Maria.

She credits her greatest learnings to fellow Elders. "You learn about all the different cultural practices. The more teachings you learn, the more you find out about human nature," says Maria. "In our business we work with people and the more you can understand where they come from, the better you can work with them."

Maria says she is not much of a person for hobbies. "I love what I do," says Maria, who prefers to be working or spending time with her two daughters and grandchildren. She says she loves challenges, creating well working systems and helping people. She is a problem-solver by nature. She is also a life-long learner and is currently taking a course on death and grieving.

Maria believes Elders set the tone and bring culture and wisdom. She says it took time at Circle 5 to build that culture so that it became a natural way to do things. She urges staff to reach out to the Elders, to build relationships.

She believes the Indigenous world view of everything being connected is essential to the work of the Agency. "No one is better than anyone or anything else," says Maria.

Luncheon Speaker
Craig Keating — Vice President, Strategies 360 Canada, Vancouver

Craig Keating is Vice President at Strategies 360 Canada, a government relations consultancy based in Vancouver. Prior to joining Strategies 360, Craig was President of the BC NDP from 2013 to 2021, helping lead a rebuild of the party that saw it win government under leader John Horgan in both 2017 and 2020. Craig also served 19 years as Councillor in the City of North Vancouver, winning in six successive elections. Craig received his PhD in History form McMaster University in 1996 and has taught at UBC, SFU, and Langara College.

Faculty
Michael Drouillard — Drouillard Lawyers, Vancouver
Lindsay D. Goldberg — Fulton & Company Law Corporation, Vancouver
Paul Harden — Meridian Law Group, Vancouver
Noah M. Sarna — Thorsteinssons LLP, Vancouver and Toronto
Mahsa Shoar — LMN Law Group, New Westminster
Anna Solnickova, BBA, CPA, CGA, RI — Executive Officer, Real Estate Compensation Fund Corporation, Burnaby
K. Kathrine Uppal — Bleay Both Uppal LLP, Vancouver

Click here for full faculty bios

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BC Real Estate Practice Manual

A lawyer’s day-to-day guide to conveyancing

This publication is essential for: Lawyers looking for guidance on practice and procedure issues arising from conveyancing in BC

Current to: April 1, 2024

Although an efficient conveyancing practice may involve delegation to support staff, lawyers are ultimately responsible for ensuring a conveyance is properly managed and advice is sound. In addition to complete coverage of the necessary stages of a conveyance, British Columbia Real Estate Practice Manual guides you through practice issues you are most likely to confront that require your expertise, including discussion of real estate licensee regulation, tax considerations for both buyers and sellers, undertakings, and collapsing deals. Mainly focused on residential property, this resource also provides a summary of considerations in commercial conveyances.

With this resource, you will be able to:

• quickly spot and avoid common conveyancing practice errors and mistakes
  
• refer to statutes and cases to start your investigation of any substantive law issues that arise
  
• access over 125 conveyancing forms and precedents to save you time

Buy today and be confident in your conveyances! View a sample from this book!

Highlights of the 2024 Update include:

• short-term rental accommodations legislation
• repeal of remote affidavit witnessing for land title applications
• electronic execution of closing documents
• filing new transparency declarations and reports
• Surveyor of Taxes filing transparency declaration
• new trust reporting requirements on T3 return, purchase contract provisions for investment and interest reporting
• EV charging in strata, electrical planning reports
• new strata Form B requirements
• proposed legislation for First Nations acquiring, disposing of land, LTO registration
• proposed BC home flipping tax
• PTT relief, enhanced GST rebate for qualifying purpose-built rental housing
• 2023 tax year reprieve from bare trusts tax filing requirements

• two issues under the Residential Tenancy Act: obligations under the tenancy agreement, and responsibility for abandoned property
• regulations amended earlier this year dealing with the abandonment of personal value property