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.
- Property Disclosure Statement — A BCREA standard form completed by the seller disclosing known facts about the property to the buyer's knowledge.
- Real Property Report (RPR) — A surveyor's drawing showing a property's legal boundaries plus the position of buildings, fences, decks, and other improvements relative to those boundaries — historically a standard buyer/lender requirement on detached homes, increasingly displaced in BC by lender title insurance.
- 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 = {2026},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.mld_disclosure},
urldate = {2026-05-08},
note = {Fact ID: bc.mld_disclosure, version 1.}
}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
Material Latent Defect disclosure obligation — Bronson Job PREC, 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
Verified sources (2)· re-verified 2026-05-08Click 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 2026-05-08Material Latent Defectshttps://www.bcfsa.ca/industry-resources/real-estate-resources/material-latent-defects
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-05-08Real Estate Services Rules, BC Reg 14/2005https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/14_2005
bc.mld_disclosure · v1View 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.
