Appendix C
Excerpts of Statutes Relevant to the Builders Lien Act
Condominium Act
Employment Standards Act
Interpretation Act
Law and Equity Act
Property Law Act
RSBC 1996 CHAPTER 64
Builders liens
75 (1) Despite any other Act, if an owner/developer conveys a strata lot to a purchaser, a builders lien must not be filed against the strata lot, or against the purchaser’s share in the common property, later than 31 days after the date the strata lot is conveyed to the purchaser. (2) Despite any other Act, or any agreement to the contrary, a purchaser of a strata lot from an owner/developer must retain a holdback in the amount of 15% of the gross purchase price of the strata lot, or any smaller amount set by regulation, for a period of 40 days after the date the strata lot is conveyed to the purchaser. (3) The holdback is subject to a lien under the Builders Lien Act and the holdback is charged with the payment of those persons employed under the person from whom the holdback is retained. (4) Payment of a holdback required to be retained under subsection (2) must be made after 40 days expire unless in the meantime a claim of lien has been filed, or proceedings have been commenced to enforce a claim of lien against the holdback. (5) On payment of the holdback amount, all liens of the person to whom the holdback is paid, and of any person employed under him or her for the strata lot, are discharged. |
If lien is filed
76 (1) If one or more liens have been filed against a strata lot purchased from an owner/developer, the purchaser may, by interlocutory application in proceedings that have been commenced to enforce the lien, or on originating application, pay into the court having jurisdiction the smaller of the
(2) Payment into court under subsection (1) discharges the purchaser from liability to the vendor or the lien holder for the claims of lien filed (3) The money paid into court stands in the place of the strata lot. (4) An order under subsection (1) must provide that the liens be removed from the title to the strata lot. (5) Except as provided in this Act, the Builders Lien Act applies. |
[RSBC 1996] CHAPTER 113
1 (1) In this Act:
“assignment of wages” includes a written authorization to pay all or part of an employee’s wages to another person; “employee” includes
“overtime wages” means the wages an employee is entitled to receive under section 40 or 41; “regular wage” means
“termination pay” means, for each week of notice an employee is entitled to, the amount obtained by totalling the employee’s weekly wages, at the regular wage, during the last 8 weeks in which the employee worked normal or average hours of work and dividing the total by 8;
but does not include
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63 (1) After 3 consecutive months of employment, the employer becomes liable to pay an employee an amount equal to one week’s wages as compensation for length of service. (2) The employer’s liability for compensation for length of service increases as follows:
(3) The liability is deemed to be discharged if the employee
(4) The amount the employer is liable to pay becomes payable on termination of the employment and is calculated by
(5) For the purpose of determining the termination date, the employment of an employee who is laid off for more than a temporary layoff is deemed to have been terminated at the beginning of the layoff. |
Part 10 — Complaints, Investigations and Determinations
Complaint and time limit
74 (1) An employee, former employee or other person may complain to the director that a person has contravened
(2) A complaint must be in writing and must be delivered to an office of the Employment Standards Branch. (3) A complaint relating to an employee whose employment has terminated must be delivered under subsection (2) within 6 months after the last day of employment. (4) A complaint that a person has contravened a requirement of section 8, 10 or 11 must be delivered under subsection (2) within 6 months after the date of the contravention. |
If complainant requests identity be kept confidential
75 (1) If requested in writing by a complainant, the director must not disclose any identifying information about the complainant unless
(2) Subsection (1) applies despite any provision of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act other than section 45 (2) and (3) of that Act. |
Investigation after or without a complaint
76 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the director must investigate a complaint made under section 74. (2) The director may refuse to investigate a complaint or may stop or postpone investigating a complaint if
(3) Without receiving a complaint, the director may conduct an investigation to ensure compliance with this Act. |
Opportunity to respond
77 If an investigation is conducted, the director must make reasonable efforts to give a person under investigation an opportunity to respond. |
Settlements
78 (1) The director may do one or more of the following:
(2) The director must pay money received under subsection (1) (c) to the person on whose behalf the money was received. (3) If a person fails to comply with the terms of a settlement, the settlement is void and the director may
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Determination
79 (1) On completing an investigation, the director may make a determination under this section. (2) If satisfied that the requirements of this Act and the regulations have not been contravened, the director must dismiss a complaint. (3) If satisfied that a person has contravened a requirement of this Act or the regulations, the director may do one or more of the following:
(4) In addition, if satisfied that an employer has contravened a requirement of section 8 or Part 6, the director may require the employer to do one or more of the following:
(5) If satisfied that an employer has contravened section 39, the director may require the employer to limit hours of work of employees to
(6) If satisfied that an employer has contravened a requirement under subsection (5), the director may require the employer to vary the overtime wages payable to employees for the period of the contravention and any later period. |
Limit on amount of wages required to be paid
80 The amount of wages an employer may be required by a determination to pay an employee is limited to the amount that became payable in the period beginning
plus interest on those wages. |
Notifying others of determination
81 (1) On making a determination under this Act, the director must serve any person named in the determination with a copy of the determination that includes the following:
(2) On being served with a determination requiring the employer to limit the hours of work of employees, an employer must display a copy of the determination in each workplace in locations where the determination can be read by any affected employees. |
No other proceedings
82 Once a determination is made requiring payment of wages, an employee may commence another proceeding to recover them only if
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Employee not to be mistreated because of complaint or investigation
83 (1) An employer must not
because a complaint or investigation may be or has been made under this Act or because an appeal or other action may be or has been taken or information may be or has been supplied under this Act. (2) If satisfied that a person has contravened subsection (1), the director may make any determination authorized by section 79 (3) or (4). |
Director’s investigative powers and protections
84 For the purposes of this Act, the director has the power and authority of a commissioner under sections 12, 15 and 16 of the Inquiry Act. |
Entry and inspection powers
85 (1) For the purposes of ensuring compliance with this Act and the regulations, the director may do one or more of the following:
(2) Despite subsection (1), the director may enter a place occupied as a private residence only with the consent of the occupant or under the authority of a warrant issued under section 120. |
Power to reconsider
86 The director may vary or cancel a determination. |
Part 11 — Enforcement
Lien for unpaid wages
87 (1) Despite any other Act, unpaid wages constitute a lien, charge and secured debt in favour of the director, dating from the time the wages were earned, against all the real and personal property of the employer or other person named in a determination or order, including money due or accruing due to the employer or other person from any source. (2) Unpaid wages set out in a decision or order filed under section 30 of the Industrial Relations Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 212, or under section 102 or 135 of the Labour Relations Code constitute a lien, charge and secured debt in favour of the persons named in the decision or order against all the real and personal property of the employer or other person named in the decision or order. (3) Despite any other Act but subject to subsection (5), the amount of a lien, charge and secured debt referred to in subsections (1) and (2) is payable and enforceable in priority over all liens, judgments, charges and security interests or any other claims or rights, including the following:
(4) Subsection (3) (c) applies whether the lien, judgment, charge, security interest, claim or right was perfected within the meaning of the Personal Property Security Act, or was created or made, before or after
(5) The lien, charge and secured debt referred to in subsections (1) and (2) has priority over a mortgage of, or debenture charging, land, that was registered in a land title office before registration against that land of a certificate of judgment obtained on the filing, under section 91, of a determination or an order of the tribunal, but only with respect to money advanced under the mortgage or debenture after the certificate of judgment was registered. |
Payment of interest
88 (1) If an employer fails to pay wages or another amount to an employee, the employer must pay interest at the prescribed rate on the wages or other amount from the earlier of
to the date of payment. (2) No interest accumulates under subsection (1) from the date a determination is made under section 79 requiring payment of the wages or other amount until 23 days after that date. (3) Interest payable under subsection (1) is deemed to be wages and this Act applies to the recovery of those wages. (4) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the wages or other amount became payable before this section comes into force, but the date from which the interest is calculated must not be earlier than the date this section comes into force. (5) An amount collected under this Part, or deposited under section 113, earns interest at the prescribed rate, payable by the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, from the date the amount is deposited in a savings institution to the date of payment to the person entitled. (6) Subsection (5) does not apply to any security provided or bond posted under section 100. |
Demand on third party
89 (1) If the director has reason to believe that a person is or is likely to become indebted to another who is required to pay money under a determination or under an order of the tribunal, the director may demand in writing that the person pay to the director, on account of the other’s liability under the determination or order, all or part of the money otherwise payable to the other person.
(2) A person on whom a demand is made under this section must, if indebted to the other person, pay to the director or to someone specified by the director the amount demanded, within 15 days after the later of
(3) The director’s receipt for money paid by a person in response to a demand is proof that the person’s liability to the person required to pay under the determination or under the order of the tribunal is discharged to the extent of the amount stated in the receipt. (4) For the purposes of this section, a savings institution is indebted to a person required to pay under a determination or under an order of the tribunal for money or a beneficial interest in money in the savings institution
(5) A demand made under this section continues in effect until it is satisfied or until it is cancelled by the director. |
Failure to comply with demand
90 (1) If a person on whom a demand is made under section 89 does not comply with the demand,
(2) If a person on whom a demand is made under section 89 denies indebtedness to anyone required to pay under a determination or under an order of the tribunal, the director may require that person to produce information the director considers necessary to establish that there is no indebtedness. |
Determination or order may be filed and enforced as judgment
91 (1) The director may at any time file a determination or an order of the tribunal in a Supreme Court registry.
(2) Unless varied, cancelled or suspended under section 86, 113, 115, 116 or 119 a filed determination is enforceable in the same manner as a judgment of the Supreme Court in favour of the director for the recovery of a debt in the amount stated in the determination. (3) Unless varied or cancelled by the tribunal under section 116, a filed order of the tribunal is enforceable in the same manner as a judgment of the Supreme Court in favour of the director for the recovery of a debt in the amount stated in the order. (4) If a determination or order filed under this section is varied, cancelled or suspended, the director must promptly withdraw the determination or order from filing in the Supreme Court registry. |
Seizure of assets
92 (1) The director may seize as much of the assets owned or possessed by a person required to pay under a determination or under an order of the tribunal, or used in or incidental to that person’s business, as is necessary to satisfy
(2) The director must safely keep the assets under seizure until
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Release of assets
93 The director must release an asset seized under section 92 if satisfied that the asset is owned by someone other than a person required to pay under a determination or under an order of the tribunal. |
Wrongful removal of seized assets
94 (1) A person must not remove, damage or dispose of assets seized under section 92 except in accordance with this Act, a writ of seizure and sale or a court order. (2) In addition to any other penalty, a person who contravenes subsection (1) is liable for the amount owed by the person required to pay under the determination or under the order of the tribunal. (3) This Act applies to the recovery of an amount a person is liable for under subsection (2). |
Associated corporations
95 If the director considers that businesses, trades or undertakings are carried on by or through more than one corporation, individual, firm, syndicate or association, or any combination of them under common control or direction,
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Corporate officer’s liability for unpaid wages
96 (1) A person who was a director or officer of a corporation at the time wages of an employee of the corporation were earned or should have been paid is personally liable for up to 2 months’ unpaid wages for each employee.
(2) Despite subsection (1), a person who was a director or officer of a corporation is not personally liable for
(3) This Act applies to the recovery of the unpaid wages from a person liable for them under subsection (1). |
Sale of business or assets
97 If all or part of a business or a substantial part of the entire assets of a business is disposed of, the employment of an employee of the business is deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be continuous and uninterrupted by the disposition. |
Monetary penalties
98 (1) If the director is satisfied that a person has contravened a requirement of this Act or the regulations or a requirement imposed under section 100, the director may impose a penalty on the person in accordance with the prescribed schedule of penalties.
(2) If a corporation contravenes a requirement of this Act or the regulations, an employee, officer, director or agent of the corporation who authorizes, permits or acquiesces in the contravention is also liable to the penalty. (3) A person on whom a penalty is imposed under this section must pay the penalty whether or not the person
(4) A penalty imposed under this Part is a debt due to the government and may be collected by the director in the same manner as wages. |
If money is paid to director
99 (1) Subject to section 78 (2), the director must pay to the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations all money received by the director under this Act, including money to be held in trust for the persons named in a determination or in an order of the tribunal.
(2) Money received by the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations in respect of a determination or an order of the tribunal must be attributed
(3) The Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations must pay, according to the direction of the director, to the persons named in a determination or in an order of the tribunal, money received in trust for them. (4) Money attributed to wages under subsection (2) must be attributed proportionally among the employees or former employees named in the determination or order according to the amount owing as shown on the determination or order. (5) The money attributed to an employee under subsection (4) must then be paid according to the following priority:
(6) If there is not enough money to pay everyone entitled under a paragraph in subsection (5), the money available under that paragraph must be divided among them in proportion to the amount each of them is entitled to. (7) Subsections (4) to (6) apply also to interest required to be paid on wages by a determination or an order of the tribunal. (8) Despite subsections (5) and (7), if money is received for wages or interest owing to an employee who owes money under another determination or under an order of the tribunal, the director may direct that the amount received be used to pay the claims of anyone entitled to payment under the other determination or the order. |
Security to ensure compliance
100 (1) To ensure compliance with this Act or the regulations, the director may require an employer who has at any time contravened a requirement relating to the payment of wages under this Act, the former Act or the regulations under either Act
(2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not
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Publication of violators’ names
101 (1) The director may compile information relating to contraventions of this Act or the regulations, including information identifying the persons who, according to a determination or an order of the tribunal, committed the contraventions.
(2) Despite the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the director may
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RSBC 1996 CHAPTER 238
Calculation of time or age
25 (1) This section applies to an enactment and to a deed, conveyance or other legal instrument unless specifically provided otherwise in the deed, conveyance or other legal instrument.
(2) If the time for doing an act falls or expires on a holiday, the time is extended to the next day that is not a holiday. (3) If the time for doing an act in a business office falls or expires on a day when the office is not open during regular business hours, the time is extended to the next day that the office is open. (4) In the calculation of time expressed as clear days, weeks, months or years, or as “at least” or “not less than” a number of days, weeks, months or years, the first and last days must be excluded. (5) In the calculation of time not referred to in subsection (4), the first day must be excluded and the last day included. (6) If, under this section, the calculation of time ends on a day in a month that has no date corresponding to the first day of the period of time, the time ends on the last day of that month. (7) A specified time of day is a reference to Pacific Standard time, or 8 hours behind Greenwich mean time, unless Daylight Saving time is being used or observed on that day. (8) A person reaches a particular age expressed in years at the start of the relevant anniversary of his or her date of birth. |
Use of forms and words
28 (1) If a form is prescribed by or under an enactment, deviations from it not affecting the substance or calculated to mislead, do not invalidate the form used. |
Expressions defined
Repeal and replacement
36 (1) If an enactment (the “former enactment”) is repealed and another enactment (the “new enactment”) is substituted for it,
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Powers to make regulations
41 (1) If an enactment provides that the Lieutenant Governor in Council or any other person may make regulations, the enactment must be construed as empowering the Lieutenant Governor in Council or that other person, for the purpose of carrying out the enactment according to its intent, to
(2) A regulation made under the authority of an enactment has the force of law.
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RSBC 1996 CHAPTER 253
Venue in foreclosure proceedings
21 (1) In this section: “foreclosure”
“mortgage” includes an agreement for sale as defined in section 16 (1). (2) Unless the court otherwise orders, every foreclosure proceeding on a mortgage must be commenced,
and all applications in the proceedings must, subject to the Rules of Court, be heard at the location of that registry. (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the Vancouver and New Westminster registries are deemed to be the same registry. (4) If the subject of a foreclosure proceeding is more than one parcel of land, each of which may be closer to different registries of the Supreme Court, the party commencing the proceeding has the right to decide in which of those registries to commence the proceeding. (5) This section does not apply if, after an allegation of a default under the mortgage, the person proposing to commence the foreclosure proceeding agrees with the registered owner of the land that is to be the subject of the proceeding, that the proceeding may be commenced at a registry other than the registry referred to in subsection (2) or (4). |
[Note – An amendment to section 21(2)(b) has been pending since 1989. S.B.C. 1989, c. 64, s. 9 would amend paragraph (b) to read:
(b) if the land that is the subject of the foreclosure proceeding is not located in a municipality or, if it is located in a municipality but there is no registry of the Supreme Court located in that municipality, at the nearest registry of the Supreme Court that can be conveniently reached from the land that is the subject of the proceeding.
When and if this amendment will be brought into force is not known.]
RSBC 1996 CHAPTER 377
Further advances by mortgagee
28 (1) In this section, “further advance” includes a first advance. (2) Despite the Land Title Act, after October 30, 1979, further advances made by a registered owner of a mortgage contemplated by and in accordance with the mortgage rank in priority to mortgages and judgments registered after his or her mortgage was registered if
(3) If a mortgage is expressed to be made to secure a current or running account, it is not deemed to have been redeemed merely because
and the mortgage remains effective as security for further advances and retains the priority given by this section until the mortgagee has delivered a registrable discharge of the mortgage to the mortgagor but, if the mortgagor is not indebted or in default under the mortgage, the mortgagee must, on the mortgagor’s request and at the mortgagor’s expense, execute and deliver to the mortgagor a registrable discharge of the mortgage. (4) Except as provided in this section, a right to tack in respect of mortgages of land is abolished but priority acquired before October 31, 1979 for further advances under a mortgage is not affected. (5) This section applies to mortgages of land made after October 30, 1979. |
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