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Selling a tenanted property in BC: what the Residential Tenancy Act lets you do

A tenancy does not end because you sell. If your buyer wants the home empty, the Residential Tenancy Act sets out who asks, when, how much notice the tenant gets and what they are paid. Here is the process as it stands in November 2026.

By Shawn Kandola, PREC · Published November 5, 2026 · 8 min read

The tenancy survives the sale

When you sell a rental property in BC, the tenancy continues. Once the sale completes, the buyer becomes the new landlord and the tenancy carries on under the same terms. The buyer and tenant do not need to sign a new agreement, though they can if both agree. You cannot evict a tenant simply because you want to sell.

That leaves 2 kinds of sale: to a buyer who keeps the tenant, usually an investor, or to a buyer who wants vacant possession to live there. The rules below cover both.

Showings and open houses with tenants at home

Under section 29 of the Residential Tenancy Act, you or your agent need the tenant's permission or written notice to enter. The Residential Tenancy Branch (RTB) rules for showings are specific:

• Written notice at least 24 hours and no more than 30 days before entry, stating the date, the time and the reason. A text message does not count.
• Entry between 8 am and 9 pm unless the tenant agrees to another time.
• Without an agreed schedule, 24 hours written notice for each showing. Showings can be on the same day or on a reasonable number of days.
• You or your agent must be present. The tenant may stay but does not have to, and you cannot require them to leave.
• No lock box without the tenant's permission, and no staging without the tenant's consent.
• A tenant can refuse unreasonable entry, and the RTB's own example is all day showings every Saturday for several weeks.

Selling vacant: the buyer's written request

You can only end the tenancy for a buyer under section 49(5), when all 3 of these are true:

• You have entered into an agreement in good faith to sell the rental unit.
• All the conditions on which the sale depends have been satisfied, meaning subjects are removed.
• The buyer asks you in writing to give notice because they, or a close family member, intend in good faith to live in the unit. Close family means the buyer's spouse, or the parents or children of the buyer or the buyer's spouse. A family corporation can also ask for a voting shareholder or their close family.

3 months' notice through the RTB web portal

You then give the tenant a Three Month Notice to End Tenancy for Purchaser's Use of Property, form RTB-32P. Since July 18, 2024, it must be generated through the RTB's Landlord Use web portal, and a generated notice carries a unique Notice ID in the top left corner. The notice must include the name and address of the buyer who asked for it. The tenant has 21 days to dispute it, and a tenant who does not dispute is presumed to accept that the tenancy ends on the effective date.

Serving the notice cannot be a condition of the sale, and the buyer has to make the written request before taking possession. Once they own the home, they can instead serve a Three Month Notice for Landlord's Use, form RTB-32L, themselves. Purchaser's use notices are not allowed in a building with 5 or more rental units unless it is strata titled and no single owner holds 5 or more of them.

Is it still a 2 month notice?

No. Many people still search for a 2 month notice for landlord use, but that period ended in 2024. The Act's default notice is 4 months, and a regulation now sets 3 months for both purchaser's use and landlord's use:

Timing the effective date and your completion

The effective date has to be at least 3 months after the tenant receives the notice, fall on the day before rent is due, and, for a fixed term tenancy, be no earlier than the end of the fixed term. A mailed notice is deemed received on the 5th day after mailing, and one attached to the door on the 3rd day.

The RTB's example: a notice generated and served in person on July 31, with rent due on the 1st, gives possession on November 1. If you generate a notice on the last day of a rental period to serve it in person that day, do it before 9 pm.

Because subjects have to be removed first, set the completion and possession dates far enough out to fit the full 3 months plus time to serve. The province shortened the purchaser's notice to 3 months partly because buyers with CMHC insured mortgages need the home vacant at possession, and a longer wait could outrun a mortgage commitment. A purchaser's notice cannot take effect before a fixed term ends, so check the lease end date before you list.

Compensation and good faith

The tenant is entitled to the equivalent of 1 month's rent on or before the effective date, and can simply withhold the last month's rent instead. They can also leave earlier by giving at least 10 days' written notice and still keep the compensation.

The person moving in must live there for at least 12 months, starting within a reasonable period after the effective date. If that does not happen, the landlord or the buyer who asked for the notice can be ordered to pay the tenant 12 times the monthly rent, unless extenuating circumstances prevented it. Buyers should only ask for vacant possession if they genuinely plan to move in.

Deposits, and buyers who keep the tenant

Whoever owns the property when the tenant moves out is responsible for returning the security and pet damage deposits, so the buyer can end up owing deposits the seller collected. The province suggests dealing with the transfer of deposits, held in trust, in the contract of sale or the closing settlement. Once the tenancy has ended and the landlord has the tenant's forwarding address in writing, deposits must be returned with interest within 15 days, or the landlord may be ordered to pay double.

An investor buyer will want the tenancy agreement, the rent amount and due date, the deposit amounts and dates, and any notices of rent increase. Having these ready is one of the simplest ways to keep a tenanted sale on track.

Other routes, and an empty home

A tenant can also agree to leave. A mutual agreement is documented on Mutual Agreement to End a Tenancy, form RTB-8. Neither side can be required to sign, and a tenant who signs gives up the compensation a notice would have paid, so expect a tenant to weigh that before agreeing.

If the home will sit empty between the tenant leaving and completion, check the speculation and vacancy tax rules. Once it is vacant, the preparation steps for a Fraser Valley sale apply, including staging that you could not do with a tenant in place.

In my experience the price gap between tenanted and vacant depends on the buyer pool for that home. A Surrey home value estimate is a useful first look, and this page on selling a home in Langley covers the wider process.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own situation with a lawyer or the Residential Tenancy Branch.

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