Material Latent Defect
Also known as: MLD · Material Latent Defect disclosure
A serious defect an ordinary inspection would not reveal. In BC the duty to disclose it falls on the listing licensee rather than the seller, and no term in the contract can waive it.
Section 59 of the Real Estate Services Rules requires the listing licensee to disclose to all prospective buyers any Material Latent Defect (MLD) of which the licensee has knowledge. The definition has ONE requirement, that the defect is material and cannot be discerned on a reasonable inspection, followed by an inclusive list of six examples: dangerous or potentially dangerous to occupants, unfit for habitation, unfit for a purpose made known to the licensee, great expense to remedy, a circumstance a local government has said must or should be remedied, and a lack of appropriate municipal building and other permits. Because the Rules say "including", a defect can qualify without matching any of the six.
MLD disclosure is independent of the Property Disclosure Statement (PDS). A seller who declines to provide a PDS still has — through their listing agent — an obligation to disclose any known MLD. The obligation cannot be contracted out of. Examples include known structural failures, undisclosed grow-op or meth-lab history, and unpermitted suite conversions.
Related terms
- Designated Agency — BC's real estate agency model since June 15, 2018: the agency relationship is between the client and the individual licensee, not the brokerage; dual agency is prohibited except in narrow remote-market exceptions.
- Property Disclosure Statement — A standard form on which the seller states what they know about the property, to the best of their own knowledge.
- Real Property Report (RPR) — A surveyor drawing that shows where the legal boundaries actually run and where the buildings, fences and decks sit against them.
- Builders Lien (BC Builders Lien Act) — A statutory charge under the BC Builders Lien Act (SBC 1997, c.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_mld_disclosure,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2005},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure},
urldate = {2026-08-02},
note = {Fact ID: bc.mld_disclosure, version 2.}
}Job, B. (2005). Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-08-02, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure
Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-08-02). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure
Fact id: bc.mld_disclosure · v2 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.mld_disclosure.json
Verified sources (2)· re-verified 2026-08-02Click to expand
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BCFSAretrieved 2026-08-02Material Latent Defectshttps://www.bcfsa.ca/public-resources/real-estate/selling-home/material-latent-defects
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-08-02Real Estate Services Rules, BC Reg 209/2021 — s. 59https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/209_2021
bc.mld_disclosure · v2View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Material Latent Defect", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/material-latent-defect.
