1. GST on the full price. Presale homes are new construction, so 5% GST applies to the entire purchase price. On a $1.6M home that's $80,000 you budget separately from your mortgage. The GST New Housing Rebate ends at $450,000; qualifying first-time buyers can get the First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate — full GST up to $1,000,000, phasing out to nil at $1,500,000. Builders price this as "plus GST" and families routinely forget.
2. Completion-date extension rights. Most contracts give the developer 6–12 months of unilateral extension time. If you've locked in mortgage financing with a 120-day rate hold, that rate is long gone by the time you close — and if rates moved up 100 basis points in the interim, your qualifying math just changed.
3. Assignment restrictions. If your life changes and you need out, most Burke presales restrict or outright prohibit assignment of contract to another buyer. You're either closing or you're losing your deposit. Negotiate assignment rights up-front, before you sign — after, it's not a negotiation.
4. Finish substitution clauses. That premium engineered hardwood floor you fell in love with on the display-suite walkthrough? Most contracts let the developer swap it for "equivalent" if supply shifts. "Equivalent" is the developer's call, not yours. Lock specific SKUs in writing.
5. Deposit escrow language. Deposits should sit in a statutorily-protected trust account. Under BC's Real Estate Development Marketing Act, deposits must be held in trust by a brokerage, lawyer or notary; a developer can use them before completion only if it has a deposit protection contract (insurance) in place and discloses it. Read which arrangement your contract uses and who the trustee is.