New Condo Completion & the 2-5-10 Warranty in BC (2026)

When your BC presale completes, two things decide whether you are protected: the pre-delivery inspection PDI you do before you get the keys, and the mandatory 2-5-10 new-home warranty that starts the day you take possession. In 2026 the warranty covers materials and labour for 2 years, the building envelope for 5, and structure for 10 — but the coverage is capped a strata unit is insured only to the lesser of your purchase price or $100,000 , the clock runs from possession not from when you notice a problem, and nothing gets fixed unless you put it in writing. Here is exactly how completion works, and the moves that keep you covered. What actually happens at completion Completion also called closing or possession is the day the building is finished, your mortgage funds, title transfers, and you get the keys. It is usually 2-4 years after you signed — in a market where the Fraser Valley condo benchmark sits at $476,400 June 2026, down 9.1% year-over-year and the Bank of Canada has held its policy rate at 2.25% through six straight decisions July 15, 2026; next decision September 2 , that gap between signing and keys is where most of the risk lives. Two events matter for your protection: the pre-delivery inspection a few days before possession, and the warranty coverage that begins the moment you take occupancy. The single most important thing to understand: the 2-5-10 warranty clock starts on your possession/occupancy date — not the day a defect appears, and not the day you file a claim. Every deadline below counts from that one date, so miss a window and the coverage is simply gone. The pre-delivery inspection PDI : your one written record The PDI is a builder-led walkthrough of your finished unit before you take the keys. Its entire purpose is to create a signed record of everything that is incomplete, damaged, missing, or not working — scratched counters, doors that stick, a range hood that does not vent, missing hardware, chips in the tub. That list becomes the reference point for what the developer must fix. The catch buyers miss: the person running the PDI works for the developer. They will move quickly. Anything you do not get written onto the PDI form is…

This article is part of the PresaleProperties.com BC real estate guide library. It is intended for buyers comparing presale condos, townhomes, assignments, deposits, completion timelines, neighbourhoods and developer incentives across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

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