The short version: a Power of Attorney (POA) lets someone — the "attorney" — act on behalf of a person who's still alive but unable or unwilling to handle a transaction themselves. For real estate specifically, the POA needs to be enduring, properly prepared and witnessed, and generally registered with BC's Land Title and Survey Authority before it can be used to sell a home. Get any of those wrong, and a sale can fall apart after it's already underway.
Enduring vs. non-enduring Power of Attorney
This is the single most important distinction. An enduring POA is specifically drafted to remain valid even if the person who signed it ("the donor") later becomes mentally incapable — which is exactly the situation where a POA is most needed. A non-enduring (general) POA automatically ends the moment the donor becomes incapable, and under BC's Land Title Act, a POA that isn't enduring is generally treated as expired after three years for land title purposes, regardless of whether the donor is still capable.
If your family member signed a general, non-enduring POA years ago and has since become incapable, it may no longer be valid for a real estate transaction at all — which is a hard thing to discover partway through a sale. This is worth confirming early, ideally with a lawyer or notary reviewing the actual document.
What the Land Title Office actually requires
To be usable for a BC property transaction, a POA generally needs to:
- Be enduring, with that status explicitly stated in the document
- Be properly signed and witnessed — BC law requires two adult witnesses, or one if the document is signed in front of a lawyer or notary public
- Be prepared or notarized by a lawyer or notary public if it's going to be used for real estate — the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) generally won't recognize a POA for property matters otherwise
- Be registered with the LTSA before it's used in a property transfer
A POA that looks valid on paper but was drafted without professional help, or wasn't witnessed correctly, is one of the most common ways a real estate transaction under POA runs into trouble — sometimes not discovered until the lawyer doing the closing reviews the document.
Mark Jontz flags this early, every time. Before listing a home under a Power of Attorney, Mark confirms the document itself has actually been reviewed by a lawyer or notary for real estate purposes — not just assumed to be valid because it exists. Catching an issue before a property is listed is a very different situation than catching it after an accepted offer.
A POA stops working the moment the person dies
This trips people up constantly: a Power of Attorney only has legal authority while the donor is alive. The instant they pass away, the POA is void — even if it was perfectly valid the day before. From that point forward, the property has to go through the estate: an executor (if there's a will) or administrator (if there isn't) needs to be appointed, and probate is generally required before the property can be sold. If a sale is in progress under POA when the donor passes away, it needs to be restructured through the estate instead — the existing POA can't simply continue.
What if there's no valid POA at all?
If a family member has already become incapable and no enduring POA was ever signed — or the one that exists turns out not to be valid — nobody automatically has authority to sell their home. The remaining option is applying to the BC Supreme Court to become their Committee of the Estate, a considerably more involved court process. See our Committee of the Estate guide for what that actually requires.
This page provides general information about Powers of Attorney in BC real estate transactions and is not legal advice. Every situation is different — please have the specific POA document reviewed by a lawyer or notary before relying on it.