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BC Real Estate Glossary

Material Latent Defect

Also known as: MLD · Material Latent Defect disclosure

A property defect that renders the property dangerous, uninhabitable, unfit for purpose, or non-compliant with bylaws/permits AND would not be apparent on reasonable inspection — disclosure is statutorily required and cannot be waived.

Section 5-13 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. An MLD has two cumulative elements: (1) it renders the property dangerous, uninhabitable, unfit for its intended purpose, or non-compliant with applicable bylaws or permits; AND (2) it would not be apparent to a buyer on a reasonable inspection.

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.

See also

Cite this fact

Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.

BibTeX — LaTeX, academic
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_mld_disclosure,
  author       = {Job, Bronson},
  title        = {{Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation}},
  howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure},
  urldate      = {2026-05-08},
  note         = {Fact ID: bc.mld_disclosure, version 1.}
}
APA — Press, journalism
Job, B. (2026). Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-08, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure
Plain link — Slack, email, Twitter
Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation — Bronson Job, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-08). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure

Fact id: bc.mld_disclosure · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.mld_disclosure.json

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Bronson Job, REALTOR®
Bronson JobREALTOR® · GVR Member #6015742 · FVREB Member #FJOBBR