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Offer to Purchase a Home in Canada: How It Works (2026)

Updated

An offer to purchase is a formal written proposal to buy a home, and once the seller accepts it, it is a legally binding contract. In short:

  • Conditions let you change or cancel the deal if something you made the offer depend on, such as mortgage approval or an inspection, doesn’t happen (conditional or firm).
  • The deposit shows the seller you’re serious, goes toward your down payment, and should be held in trust, not handed to the seller (the deposit).
  • Competing offers are handled differently from province to province: in Ontario the seller’s agent must tell every buyer with a written offer how many offers there are, while in B.C. the seller doesn’t have to say there are others (competing offers).
  • Backing out is possible when a condition can’t be met despite every reasonable effort, or inside a cooling-off period the law gives in some cases, such as B.C.’s home buyer rescission period (backing out).

What goes in an offer to purchase

How to make an offer

  1. Get a mortgage preapproval so you know roughly what a lender may lend; it is not a guarantee of the final loan (mortgage preapproval).
  2. Decide the most you are willing to pay, and be ready to walk away above it.
  3. Write the offer, usually on a standard form (in B.C. the Contract of Purchase and Sale; in Quebec an OACIQ Promise to purchase form), with the terms in the table below.
  4. Have your lawyer and your agent read it with you before it goes to the seller, because an accepted offer binds you.
  5. The seller accepts, rejects or comes back with a counter-offer before your offer expires (how the seller can answer).

An offer usually sets out:

Part of the offerWhat it does for you
Names and addressYour legal name, the seller’s name and the home’s legal civic address
PriceWhat you are offering to pay
DepositHow much you put down now as a sign you’re serious (the deposit)
InclusionsItems other than the home that come with the price, such as appliances, window coverings or light fixtures
Closing and possession dateWhen the sale closes and you take possession, usually 30 to 90 days after the agreement
Expiry dateWhen the offer stops being valid, usually 48 to 72 hours after it is made
ConditionsWhat the deal depends on, such as financing, an inspection or a current land survey (conditions)

The contract’s name depends on the province. In Ontario it is an agreement of purchase and sale, the term the Ontario government uses. In British Columbia an offer is usually written on a standard form called the Contract of Purchase and Sale. In Quebec a broker has to use one of the Promise to purchase forms the OACIQ (the province’s real estate regulator) designs, and a new home bought from a builder or developer uses a preliminary contract instead.

Conditional or firm offers

A conditional offer depends on something else happening, such as you getting mortgage approval or a satisfactory home inspection; if a condition isn’t met, you can change or cancel the offer even after the seller has accepted it. An offer without conditions is an unconditional, or firm, offer. RECA notes that in Alberta’s competitive market some buyers submit offers without a financing condition, relying on a mortgage pre-approval, and warns that changes in a buyer’s job, income, credit score or debts before closing can create challenges for buyers who submit unconditional offers.

A conditional deal is still a contract: in B.C. a contract is legally binding as soon as both sides sign it, subjects and all, and BCFSA warns that some buyers wrongly believe it isn’t binding until the subjects are removed. Conditions are not a way out of a deal you’ve changed your mind about: you have to make every reasonable effort to satisfy them, and if they still can’t be met after that, the contract ends with no obligation to buy.

Conditions buyers commonly ask for:

  • Financing: approval of the mortgage you need (the financing condition).
  • Inspection: a satisfactory professional inspection (home inspection guide).
  • Sale of your current home.
  • Condo or strata documents: a satisfactory status, estoppel or information certificate (condo documents).
  • Seller disclosure: in B.C., having the seller complete a Property Disclosure Statement.

Once a condition is met, tell the seller in writing that you are removing it. In Quebec, the buyer has to meet the conditions in the promise to purchase within the time it sets, most often getting financing and an inspection by a recognized expert.

A seller can accept your conditional offer and keep looking at other offers until you remove your conditions. The seller may ask for a clause that makes you remove every condition within a set time if another attractive offer arrives, and if you can’t, your conditional contract ends.

The fewer conditions you include, the more serious you look and the better your chance of being accepted, which is why some buyers go subject-free in a competitive market; BCFSA says that carries several risks. RECO, Ontario’s regulator, calls skipping a home inspection a significant risk.

The financing condition

A financing condition makes the deal depend on you getting the mortgage you need. A preapproval doesn’t replace it: RECO says pre-qualifying for a mortgage doesn’t safely remove the need for a financing condition, and RECA, Alberta’s regulator, says financing can still fall through after a pre-approval.

That’s because a lender can turn you down even after preapproving you; before approving the loan it checks that the property meets its standards, and the amount it approves depends on the property’s value and your down payment. A change in your job, income, credit score or debts between pre-approval and closing can also affect the lender’s decision. During the conditional period you still have to meet your bank or credit union to get final mortgage approval. If the lender values the home below your price, see home appraisals.

The deposit

The deposit shows the seller you’re serious about buying, and it is paid when you make the offer to purchase. In B.C. you usually pay it with your offer or after the seller accepts. In Quebec the amount is up to the buyer.

Deposit vs down payment. The deposit isn’t an extra cost on top of the down payment: it can form part of it, and RECA defines the deposit as a portion of the down payment the buyer provides with the offer. For how much down payment you need, see the down payment calculator.

Where it’s held. Don’t give the deposit to the seller directly; it should be held in trust by the seller’s real estate company or a lawyer or notary. In B.C. it usually sits in your licensee’s brokerage trust account. In Alberta a brokerage must deposit trust money for an offer within 3 business days of the offer being accepted. In Quebec it goes into the agency’s or broker’s trust account. See escrow in Canada for who holds your money at each step.

If the deal ends on a condition. In B.C. the deposit doesn’t come back automatically when a subject isn’t removed: you and the seller both sign a release, except when you use the rescission right, and if you can’t agree, the brokerage may pay the money into the BC Supreme Court for a judge to decide. In Ontario, consumer deposit insurance covers a deposit entrusted to a registered agent or brokerage up to $200,000 per claim.

Condo documents: status, estoppel and information certificates

To buy a resale condo or strata unit outside Quebec, you need a satisfactory estoppel certificate or status certificate, and CMHC says to make it a condition of your offer. In B.C. and Alberta the certificate comes from the strata or condo corporation and covers the unit’s fees and money owed:

ProvinceDocumentRequested byDelivery timeFee
British ColumbiaInformation Certificate (Form B)An owner, a purchaser or someone they authorizeOne week$35 plus up to 25 cents a page
AlbertaEstoppel certificateAn owner, purchaser or mortgagee, their lawyer, or someone they authorize in writing10 days$200, plus up to $100 if produced within 3 days

Sources: B.C.’s Strata Property Act and Strata Property Regulation; Alberta’s Condominium Property Act and Condominium Property Regulation.

In Ontario anyone can request a condo unit's status certificate, which sets out key information about the unit and the condo corporation; the corporation can charge up to $100, including taxes and materials, and must offer it at that price within 10 days (faster delivery can cost more). Buyers should review it with their lawyer. Its contents, and what to check in each part, are on our page on the Ontario status certificate.

What to look at with your lawyer: B.C.’s Form B states the monthly strata fees, anything the owner owes the strata corporation, special levies already approved, any expected overspending of the year’s budget and the contingency reserve fund balance. Alberta’s certificate states the owner’s contributions, how often they’re due, any arrears and interest owing, and it is conclusive proof of those amounts for the person who asked for it.

Competing offers and bidding wars

How the seller can answer

The seller can accept your offer, reject it or make a counter-offer, which is an offer to sell with changes such as a higher price or a different closing date. If the seller changes anything at all, your offer counts as rejected and the seller is making a new offer back to you. Several rounds back and forth are common. In Quebec, a seller who doesn’t reply has refused, and each new counter-proposal cancels the earlier ones.

When several buyers make offers, what you’re told depends on the province:

ProvinceWhat the seller’s side tells competing buyers
OntarioThe number of competing written offers must be disclosed to every buyer who made one. Their content is shared only if the seller directs it, and never anything that identifies the other buyer. A verbal offer doesn’t count.
British ColumbiaThe seller doesn’t have to say other offers exist, or go back to buyers to let them improve; the seller may simply pick the best offer. A seller asked about other offers can’t lie, but can decline to answer.
QuebecThe seller’s broker must tell other brokers and buyers that another promise to purchase exists, but can’t reveal what it says. A buyer can improve an offer until it is accepted, expires or is refused.
AlbertaA buyer’s own agent must tell the buyer about the existence and terms of competing offers the agent knows of.

Sources: Ontario’s General regulation under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act and RECO; BCFSA; OACIQ; RECA’s Rules.

Even in Ontario, RECO tells buyers not to expect the other offers’ content to be shared, or the prices in them if it is. In Ontario a buyer who made a written offer can also ask the registrar to find out how many written offers the seller’s brokerage received.

What helps in a multiple-offer situation, without overpaying:

  • Fewer conditions make an offer look more serious, but each one you drop is a risk you take on (conditional or firm).
  • Don’t drop the financing condition on the strength of a preapproval alone (the financing condition).
  • Set your maximum price before offer night and be ready to walk away.

Bully offers

In Ontario, RECO describes a bully offer, or pre-emptive offer, as one where the buyer doesn’t follow the seller’s process for delaying when offers are presented. RECO says such offers often come with a very short irrevocable period, to get ahead of the seller’s process and avoid competing with other buyers. As with other offers, the seller can accept it, reject it or make a counter-offer. In Quebec, OACIQ says collecting every promise to purchase for one set date and time goes against the broker’s duty to present each offer as soon as possible after it arrives.

Backing out of an offer

Before the seller accepts. An offer stops being valid on the expiry date it sets. In Quebec, on a resale home, the buyer can withdraw only between signing the promise to purchase and its presentation to the seller; once the seller has it, the buyer is bound by it, subject to its conditions.

While the offer is conditional. If a condition can’t be met after you make every reasonable effort, the contract ends and you have no legal obligation to buy. Using a condition you haven’t really tried to meet as an escape is not what conditions are for.

After the deal is firm. The contract binds both sides, and either the buyer or the seller can go to court to make the other carry out their part. In B.C. the brokerage can’t release the deposit unless you and the seller both agree; if you can’t agree, it may pay the money into court for a judge to decide.

Cooling-off periods. These are the statutory exceptions:

  • B.C.: In B.C., a buyer of a home can cancel an accepted offer within 3 business days by giving written notice and paying the seller 0.25% of the price, which comes out of the deposit; the right can't be waived, and homes on leased land, auction and court-ordered sales, and new developments with their own rescission right are exempt. Subjects such as financing run at the same time as the rescission period, not after it. Details: B.C. home buyer rescission period.
  • Ontario, new condo from the developer: you can cancel within a cooling-off period set out in the rule below.
  • Ontario resale condo: there is no cooling-off period in law, so you can’t cancel without penalty on that basis.
  • Quebec, new home from a builder or developer: the preliminary contract must let a buyer who will live in the home withdraw within 10 days of signing, and an indemnity the contract sets for withdrawing can’t be more than 0.5% of the price.

Ontario’s cooling-off period for a new condo bought from the developer works like this:

  • You're buying a new unit from the developer (the declarant), not a resale.
  • You or your lawyer give written notice that the developer or its lawyer receives within 10 days.
  • The 10 days run from the latest of the day you get the disclosure statement, the day you get the condominium guide, and the day you get a copy of the agreement signed by both sides.
  • You cancel before accepting a deed to the unit in registerable form.
  • The developer refunds all money credited to the price, without penalty, with interest at the prescribed rate.

Buying a home that isn’t built yet? See buying pre-construction.

Can the seller back out?

A seller is bound by an accepted offer just as you are, and you can go to court to make the seller complete the sale. A seller who accepts your conditional offer may still keep taking other offers until you remove your conditions, and a time clause can end your contract if you can’t remove them when another offer arrives.

After your offer is accepted

From acceptance to the keys, in order:

  1. Deposit. Pay it as the offer says, into trust (the deposit).
  2. Final mortgage approval. Meet your bank or credit union during the conditional period.
  3. Inspection and documents. If the inspection finds repairs, you and your agent decide whether to withdraw or renegotiate the price. For a condo, review the certificate (condo documents).
  4. Remove conditions in writing once they’re met; the deal is then firm.
  5. Closing. The sale closes on the date in the offer, usually 30 to 90 days after the agreement (closing on a home).

The lawyer or notary, the statement of adjustments and closing day are covered in closing on a home, and the costs in the closing costs calculator.

Where to go next

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 29, 2026 and November 1, 2026. How we check facts.