Finance Minister Carole James introduces legislation to make land ownership more transparent in B.C.

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      The NDP government has unveiled legislation to make it easier for the public to know who's buying residential real estate.

      Bill 23, a.k.a. the Land Owner Transparency Act, includes more than 100 sections.

      According to the B.C. finance ministry, it will "help bring an end to the days when B.C. could be used by shell companies and other legal entities to anonymously hide wealth, evade taxes, and launder money".

      If it passes and receives royal assent, Bill 23 will require corporations, trusts, and partnerships that own or buy land to disclose their beneficial owners in a registry.

      Those who fail to do that will face the greater of fines of up to $100,000 or 15 percent of the assessed property value.

      "This registry will make information about the true owners of B.C. real estate publicly available and help crack down on illegal activities," Finance Minister Carole James said in a government news release. "It is one of the key steps our government is taking to ensure homes in B.C. are used for people, not speculative investment or money laundering.”

      Finance Minister Carole James says Bill 23 will make it more difficult to launder money through the housing market.

      The legislation imposes a duty on an administrator to make information available for inspection.

      In addition, it allows ministry officials and its employees, regulators, police officers, and taxing authority officials to conduct inspections and searches.

      Section 35 sets the conditions for searches by members of the public, which are "subject to reasonable conditions" that an administrator may impose. The law appears to allow the public to "ascertain the interests in land in relation to which the person is an interest holder or settlor".

      The president of the Law Society of B.C., Nancy Merrill, welcomed requiring companies, trusts, and partnerships to disclose their controlling shareholders, beneficial owners, and partnerships, saying this "protects the public".

      "This groundbreaking move by the B.C. government will increase the transparency of land ownership in B.C. and make it more difficult to use such arrangements for tax evasion, fraud and money laundering," Merrill stated in the government new release. "British Columbians will benefit from a fairer and more transparent real estate market.”

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