Every day, British Columbians trying to buy a home are being financially exploited by predatory tactics designed to artificially inflate housing prices and drive up real estate commissions.
During a recent attempt to purchase a home in our community, we submitted a formal, written offer. Rather than presenting it promptly, the listing agent held our offer hostage—burning up the clock until just five minutes before our contract’s expiration window. This artificial delay was used entirely to drum up competing bids and force us into an aggressive, blind bidding war. After being pressured to extend our timeline and submit a second offer for an additional $150,000, we were told we would still have to go "much higher" to beat the competition. Recognizing this as a manipulative psychological trap, we refused to be exploited and immediately withdrew our offer.
This toxic behavior is completely legal under current B.C. regulations, and it is costing buyers hundreds of thousands of dollars in rash, high-pressure decisions.
The provincial government took an excellent, decisive step forward when it introduced strict restrictions on short-term rentals like Airbnb to protect long-term housing availability. It is now time for the government to take another bold step to ensure that first-time buyers, and indeed all buyers, are treated fairly.
We, the undersigned residents of British Columbia, call on our provincial government and MLA Dana Lajeunesse to introduce immediate legislative reform to restrict realtor overreach through the following 6 remedial actions:
1) Ban Manufactured Bidding Wars: Prohibit listing agents from withholding or stockpiling valid offers to engineer blind bidding wars. Agents must be banned from calling out to previously interested parties once an active offer is received; if those parties have not already submitted a formal offer, they must be considered legally uninterested.
2) Mandate a Two-Hour Presentation Rule: Legally require listing agents to physically present any formal, written offer to the sellers within two hours of receipt.
3) Implement a Mandatory "Yes/No" Seller Directive: Upon signing a listing agreement, sellers must check a binding clause explicitly declaring whether they will accept the first valid offer within two hours, or legally commit to a pre-disclosed date to review all offers. This choice must be displayed transparently on the public listing from day one.
4) Enforce Accountability Via Signed Rejections: If an offer is rejected, require the listing agent to return the original contract with a physically signed and dated "Seller’s Rejection Box" to prove the offer was actually shown to the owners, eliminating the use of fake or "ghost" offers.
5) Implement Mandatory Post-Transaction Auditing: Create a standard provincial form that buyers can sign upon submitting an offer. If checked, this form would legally compel the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB) or the BCFSA to automatically audit the completed transaction file to verify timelines, communication logs, and confirm no regulations were breached.
6) Claw Back and Cap Predatory Commission Structures: The historical tiered model of charging up to 7% on the first $100,000 and 2.5% on the balance is a relic of the past. On an average $1,000,000 home, this structure forces consumers to pay $29,500 in commission for the exact same amount of administrative work that used to cost a fraction of that amount. The province must intervene to regulate these fees and steer the industry toward a reasonable, modern flat-fee service model or a strict commission cap to protect consumer equity.

Our housing market should be about finding a place to live, not surviving high-pressure psychological games meant to inflate agent paydays.

👉 IMPORTANT: B.C. MLAs only respond to their own constituents. When you sign, please leave a quick comment stating your local community (e.g., 'Sooke resident', 'Langford homebuyer', 'Metchosin voter') so we can officially prove your vote counts to Dana Lajeunesse!

If you agree that it is time to force a permanent change in realtor tactics and provincial regulations, please add your signature to this petition. Together, we can restore fairness and transparency to B.C. real estate!