Encyclopedia
Vancouver commercial real estate, A to Z
Leasing, buying, selling and owning commercial property and businesses in BC, explained one term at a time.
208 terms you'll run into when you lease, buy or sell commercial property or a business in Vancouver and the rest of BC. Each entry has a plain definition, a BC example, why it matters in a deal, how to use it, common mistakes, BC specifics, questions to ask and a link to the law, regulator or government page behind it. Where there's no official definition, the entry says so and your contract wording controls. It's general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, so check the linked source and get advice for your own situation.
Guides
- Buying a commercial property in BC, step by step
- Leasing commercial space in BC: a tenant's guide
- Leasing out commercial space in BC: a landlord's guide
- Commercial due diligence checklist for BC buyers
- Negotiating a commercial deal in BC
- How commercial property is valued in BC
- Financing a commercial property in BC through your bank
- Buying or leasing a commercial strata unit in BC
- Zoning, permits and licences for commercial space in Vancouver
- Environmental due diligence for commercial property in BC
- Selling a business that owns or leases its real estate in BC
- Sale-leaseback for BC business owners
- Is there a 1031 exchange in Canada? What BC owners can look at instead
- Vancouver planning changes: what they mean for commercial owners and tenants
- What BC regulator decisions teach buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants
Facing a specific problem? See common owner and tenant situations.
Also here: answers to common questions, and tactics to watch for in a commercial deal. For quick one-line definitions, there's the glossary.
A
- Absolute net lease
- Accelerated rent
- Additional rent
- Admin/management fee
- Agency
- Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR)
- Air space parcel
- Agricultural Land Commission (ALC)
- Amenity Cost Charge (ACC)
- Amortization
- Anchor tenant
- Appraisal
- Assessed value
- Assessment appeal
- Asset sale
- Assignment (lease)
- Audit right
- Average daily rate (ADR)
B
- Bank Rate / policy rate
- Bare land strata
- Base year
- Basic rent
- BC Assessment
- BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA)
- Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) measurement
- Break-even ratio
- Bridge loan
- Broadway Plan
- Builders' lien
- Building condition assessment
- Business licence
- Buyer's agent
C
- Call for offers
- Common area maintenance (CAM)
- Capitalisation rate (cap rate)
- Cap rate compression
- Cap rate spread
- Capital cost allowance (CCA)
- Capital expenditure (CapEx)
- Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE)
It can shelter part of the gain when you sell qualifying small business shares (not assets), and your accountant confirms whether you qualify.
- Cash-on-cash return
- Certificate of pending litigation (CPL)
- Change of control
- Class 5 Light Industry
- Class 6 Business and Other
- Clear height
- Co-tenancy
- Commercial Tenancy Act
- Commission
- Comparable sale (comp)
- Completion date
- Conduct of sale
- Contaminated site
- Contingency reserve fund (CRF)
- Covenant (tenant)
- Covenant (title)
- Critical dates
D
- Data room
- Debt service coverage ratio (DSCR)
- Debt yield
- Deemed disposition
- Demolition clause
- Density: floor space ratio (FSR) / floor area ratio (FAR)
- Deposit
- Depreciation report
- Development Cost Charge (DCC)
- Development permit
- Development Potential Relief Program (DPRP)
- Disclosure of representation
- Discounted cash flow (DCF)
- Distress
- Dock-high loading
- Dual agency
- Due diligence
E
- Easement
- Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)
- Effective rent
- Employment lands
- Empty Homes Tax
- End cap
- Environmental Site Assessment (Phase I)
- Escalation clause
- Estoppel certificate
- Exclusive use
F
- Fair market rent
- Fee simple
- First right of refusal (ROFR)
- Fixturing period
- Flex space
- Floor load
- Form B
- Freehold
G
- Go-dark clause
- Goodwill
- Grade loading
- Gross lease
- Gross rent multiplier (GRM)
- Gross-up (operating costs)
- Goods and Services Tax (GST) (commercial real property)
- GST going-concern election
- Guarantor
H
I
L
- Land assembly
- Land assessment averaging
- Land lift
- Land Title Office / Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA)
- Lease-up
- Leasehold
- Letter of intent (LOI)
- Leverage (negative)
- Listing agreement
- Load factor
- Loan-to-value (LTV)
- Long-stay site
- Loss-to-lease
M
- Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act
- Market rent
- Material latent defect
- Metro 2050
- Mill rate
- Mixed-use
- Modified gross lease
N
- Net effective rent
- Net lease
- Net operating income (NOI)
- NNN (triple net)
- Non-competition agreement
- Non-conforming use
- Non-disclosure agreement (NDA) / confidentiality agreement (CA)
O
- Occupancy cost
- Offer to lease
- Offering memorandum (OM)
- Official Community Plan (OCP)
- Operating costs
- Opinion of value
- Option to purchase
- Owner-user
P
- Pad site
- Parcel tax
- Percentage rent
- Permitted use
- Personal guarantee
- Personal Property Registry (PPR)
- Phase II ESA
- Power service
- Price per site
- Price per square foot
- Prime rate
- Property Transfer Tax (PTT)
- Provincial Sales Tax (PST) clearance certificate
- Purchase price allocation
R
- Re-trade
- Real Estate Services Act (RESA)
- Recapture (CCA)
- Recapture clause
- Relocation clause
- Remeasurement
- Renewal option
- Rent roll
- Rentable area
- Restoration clause
- Right of way
- Rollover risk
S
- Sale-leaseback
- School tax (non-residential)
- Seasonal campground
- Second-generation space
- The replacement property rule
- Tax-deferred rollover to a company
- Seller's discretionary earnings (SDE)
- Share sale
- Shotgun (buy-sell) clause
- Site disclosure statement
- Small-scale multi-unit housing (SSMUH)
- Subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreement (SNDA)
- Special levy
- Speculation and vacancy tax (SVT)
- Stabilized NOI
- Statutory declaration
- Statutory right of way (SRW)
- Strata corporation
- Strata Property Act
- Subject clause
- Subject removal
- Sublease
T
- Temporary Use Permit (TUP)
- Tenant improvements (TI)
- Tenant inducement
- Tenant rep
- Term (loan)
- Title search
- Transit-Oriented Area (TOA)
- TransLink levy
U
V
W
Y
Z
General information for British Columbia only. It isn’t legal, tax, accounting or financial advice, laws and rates change, and reading it doesn’t make you my client. Any numbers or scenarios are hypothetical. Check the linked official source and talk to a lawyer, accountant or other qualified professional before you act or sign anything. See the terms and disclaimer.