This page sets out those duties, the forms you will sign, and the rules for the rare case where one agent acts for both sides.
The short version
- A licensee who acts only for you is in a sole agency relationship and must act solely in your best interest, under the Real Estate Services Act.
- Your agent must avoid conflicts of interest, keep your information confidential forever, follow your lawful instructions and act only within the authority you give.
- You will receive a form called the Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services.
- Dual agency, one agent for both buyer and seller, is permitted only with consent and only in limited situations, such as remote or under-served areas.
- In dual agency, the agent's duties shrink: they must deal impartially and cannot tell either side what the other is willing to pay or accept.
Why use a licensed agent
BCFSA lists the protections a licensed agent brings. They are licensed and insured. They are governed by the Real Estate Services Act, which requires them, among other things, to act solely in your best interest. They are trained to draft property purchase contracts. They have access to property databases and other licensees. They can refer you to mortgage brokers, home inspectors and other experts. Deposits and other funds can be held in a brokerage trust account. And if something goes wrong, BCFSA can investigate.
No law requires a buyer to use an agent. In our view, a first-time buyer of a multiplex home gains the most from one, because the contract, the strata documents and the timing all have traps that are hard to see on a first purchase.
The duties your agent owes you
When a licensee acts only for you, BCFSA calls it sole agency. On top of a general duty to act honestly and with reasonable care and skill, the licensee owes you a set of duties that BCFSA describes one by one.
They must avoid any conflict of interest they can, and disclose any they cannot, so you can decide together how to handle it. They must keep your personal information confidential, a duty BCFSA says lasts forever, even after the purchase, except where the law requires them to share it with law enforcement, BCFSA or the government. They must follow your lawful instructions. They must act only within the authority you give them, so they cannot hire an inspector or submit an offer without your approval.
They must also try to discover and disclose relevant facts about the property, anything that may affect your decision to make an offer. BCFSA suggests telling your agent what matters most to you, giving the example of wanting a home with a roof less than five years old.
Most of these duties end once you buy, or when you end the relationship. Confidentiality does not end.
- Avoid conflicts of interest, and disclose any that cannot be avoided.
- Keep your personal information confidential, permanently.
- Follow your lawful instructions.
- Act only within the authority you give.
- Discover and disclose facts about the property that may affect your decision.
The forms you will see
When an agency relationship starts, BCFSA says your licensee will give you a form called the Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services and walk you through it. It records who the licensee represents.
Your brokerage may also ask you to sign a written service agreement. BCFSA has a separate page on service agreements, and your agent should explain any agreement before you sign it, including how long it lasts and how the agent is paid.
When you write an offer, you will also receive the disclosure of your 3-business-day right of rescission, which the writing-the-offer page in this guide explains.
Dual agency, and why it is rare
Dual agency means your licensee represents two clients with competing interests in the same purchase, such as you and the seller, or you and another buyer who wants the same home. BCFSA says it is permitted only with the clients' consent and only in limited situations: where the property is in a remote location, where the area is under-served by licensees, or where it would be impracticable for any party to find independent representation.
If your agent tells you they represent the seller of a home you like, or another buyer interested in the same home, they will explain that continuing would be dual agency. If it is allowed in your case, they give you a form called the Disclosure of Risks Associated with Dual Agency, and you can agree or refuse.
Under dual agency, the duties shrink. BCFSA says the brokerage or its designated agent must deal with buyer and seller impartially, need not disclose what the buyer will pay, what the seller will accept or either side's motivation, and must not disclose either side's personal information. In our view, buyers in Greater Vancouver will rarely meet these conditions, so expect your own agent to act for you alone.
Your personal information
Expect to share personal details early. BCFSA says that in any transaction where a licensee represents a party, you will be asked for information to verify your identity, which may include government-issued identification and details of what you do for a living, because the Government of Canada requires licensees to collect it to prevent money laundering.
The same page explains the limits on what happens to it. Under the Real Estate Services Act and its rules, your licensee must keep information about a client confidential, other than when required by law, and that duty lasts forever. The one reporting duty BCFSA names is that a licensee who suspects money laundering or terrorist financing must report it to FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit.
Questions to ask an agent before you start
A first conversation tells you most of what you need. These questions come from the duties BCFSA describes, plus the things that matter for multiplex homes in particular.
- Will you act for me alone, and what will you do if you also act for the seller of a home I like?
- Have you read strata documents for duplex, triplex and fourplex stratas, and what do you look for?
- Who will you refer me to for a mortgage, an inspection and a lawyer or notary, and do you have any relationship with them?
- How will you tell me about other offers on a home, and how fast can you write one?
- Is there a service agreement, how long does it last, and how are you paid?
What a good agent does on a multiplex search
Multiplex homes are harder to find on MLS® than condos or houses. In the board feed MultiLiving reads, they appear under property types such as Half Duplex and Townhouse, with an ownership field such as Freehold Strata or Freehold NonStrata, so a search for the word multiplex alone misses many of them.
In our view, an agent who knows multiplex homes does three things a general search does not. They find homes by building size and title, rather than by property type alone. They ask for the strata documents early, because a strata of 2 to 4 homes has no manager to answer questions and often no depreciation report. And they compare each home with the townhouses and houses nearby, since no benchmark price is published for multiplex homes.
Ask any agent you are considering how they would search for the home you want, and which of these steps they take.
Buying a home with no agent on your side
Some buyers deal directly with the listing agent and have no agent of their own. BCFSA calls this no agency. The listing agent's obligations are only to the seller. BCFSA says they may give an unrepresented buyer limited services, such as factual information, explaining terms and forms, arranging viewings, preparing and presenting offers at the buyer's direction, and estimating costs. They may not recommend a price, negotiate for the buyer, reveal the seller's bottom line or share the seller's confidential information.
If you choose this, get your own legal advice on the contract before you sign, and arrange your own inspection and strata document review.
Questions buyers ask
More in Making an Offer
Also worth reading
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page comes from the body that issues it. Rules and rates change, so each entry says when we checked it.
- Agency, Your Real Estate Licensee, and You. BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). Current page, accessed 23 October 2026.
- Offers to Sellers (drafting, subject clauses, sellers' options, multiple offers, rescission). BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). Current page, accessed 23 October 2026.
Want this checked against a real home?
Send us the address or the project name. We will look at what is actually on offer, tell you what the numbers on this page work out to for that home, and say so if it is a poor fit.