Do BC sellers have to fill out a Property Disclosure Statement?

Direct answer

No seller in BC is obliged to complete one, and refusing does not keep a known defect quiet, because that duty sits with the listing agent regardless. The Property Disclosure Statement is a standard form published by the BC Real Estate Association, not a statutory requirement, and it records what the seller personally knows. A seller who declines has that noted on the listing, and a separate form exists for it. Two things follow, and the second is the one people get wrong. First, a completed form has to be truthful. Answers are a statement of the seller's knowledge rather than a warranty of condition, so honest ignorance is fine and "do not know" is a permissible answer, but using "do not know" to cover something you do know is misrepresentation, and it is grounds for rescission and damages. Second, section 59 of the Real Estate Services Rules puts a separate and independent duty on the seller's LICENSEE to disclose any material latent defect they know about, whether or not a Property Disclosure Statement is given. That duty cannot be contracted around, and if a seller instructs their agent to withhold it, section 59(3) of those same Real Estate Services Rules requires the agent to stop acting on the sale altogether. So the form is optional and the disclosure is not. The practical read for a buyer is that no form means more of the diligence falls to your own inspection, not that the seller is hiding something.