Practice Areas | Librus Legal

Commercial Real Estate

From a single storefront to a complex multi-tenant property, commercial real estate runs on detail—and on a lawyer who knows how deals come together and where they come apart.

We advise developers, investors, owners, and businesses on commercial real estate matters across British Columbia. Our practice is built on a simple premise: you get the depth of experience typically reserved for major institutional files, delivered through a direct, one-on-one relationship with your lawyer.

Our work covers the full operational life of a commercial property:

Acquisitions & Dispositions: We handle the structural diligence, title clearing, drafting, and closing mechanics for commercial purchases and sales.

Commercial Leasing: We act for landlords and tenants alike across retail, office, and industrial spaces. Our experience includes negotiating complex triple-net leases, long-term ground leases, tenant improvement structures, and navigating subleasing, assignment, and restoration details.

Financing & Lending: We advise borrowers and lenders on commercial loans, construction facilities, and security configurations, ensuring title and registration issues are cleared well before funding.

Development Support: We guide clients through the structural foundation of a project, drafting and reviewing the complex easements, covenants, and statutory rights of way that secure a property's value.

Residential Real Estate

Few decisions matter more than the ones you make about your home. A purchase, a sale, a mortgage, a lease—these are among the largest transactions most people ever sign, and they deserve clear, careful counsel from someone who will take the time to explain them. We provide full bilingual service in English and Mandarin.

What sets our residential practice apart is the experience behind it. The same diligence we bring to complex commercial files—careful title review, attention to every term, and an eye for the problem before it becomes one—is the exact diligence we bring to your home.

Some of our residential services include:

Purchases & Sales: Full-service closing support for residential properties, as well as complex transactions involving family trusts, estates, and corporate holding structures.

Financing & Refinancing: Advising on institutional mortgages, private lending arrangements, and equity lines of credit.

Residential Leasing: Drafting, reviewing, and advising on residential tenancy agreements for both landlords and tenants.

Whether you are buying your first home, selling a long-held property, or arranging a purchase through a family trust or company, we are here to make the process clear and the closing smooth.

Corporate & Commercial

Most legal matters do not arrive in tidy categories. A growing business needs a shareholders' agreement. A contract needs a careful set of eyes before it is signed. A property purchase needs a holding company.

We advise on corporate and commercial matters across British Columbia — both as a standalone practice and alongside the real estate and investment work at the core of the firm. Much of this work runs together: for clients whose business and property interests are intertwined, having one lawyer who sees both sides is a real advantage.

Some of the corporate and commercial work we do:

Incorporations & Organization: We set up corporations and structure them properly from the start, so the foundation is right before the business grows on top of it.

Shareholders' & Partnership Agreements: We draft and negotiate the agreements that govern how a business is owned and run, anticipating the disagreements and transitions that arise down the road.

Joint Ventures & Partnerships: We structure and document joint ventures and partnerships, for standalone business ventures and for real estate development alike.

Mergers & Acquisitions: We advise buyers and sellers through the full arc of a deal — from structuring and due diligence to negotiating the agreement and closing — whether the target is a business, its assets, or both.

Corporate Governance & Advisory: We provide ongoing counsel on the day-to-day and the consequential, serving as a steady set of eyes for businesses that do not have in-house legal support.

Holding Companies & Trust Structures: We establish holding companies and trust structures — including bare trusts and alter ego trusts — to hold real estate and other assets for individuals, families, and businesses.

No two businesses are the same, and neither are their legal needs. Whether you are building something new, protecting what you have already built, or simply want a careful eye on an agreement before you sign, we would be glad to help you put the right structure in place.

Professional Health Corporations

Incorporating a health practice is not like incorporating any other business. The corporation must satisfy both the Business Corporations Act and the bylaws of your college: the name needs college consent, the articles must contain specific provisions, shares may only be held in permitted ways, and no health services can be provided until the college issues its permit. We act for health professionals across British Columbia at every stage of that process — and beyond it, as the practice grows. Much of this work runs together with the corporate and real estate practice at the core of the firm: clients who incorporate often go on to lease clinic space, buy a building, or bring in a partner, and there is a real advantage in having a lawyer who sees all of it.

Some of the professional corporation work we do:

Incorporation & Articles: We incorporate health profession corporations under the Business Corporations Act, with articles drafted to meet the Health Professions and Occupations Act and your college's requirements — so the structure is right before the college reviews it.

College Name Approval & Permits: We handle the steps between you and a valid permit: reserving the corporate name, obtaining college consent, preparing the permit application, and providing the solicitor's certificate where your college requires one.

Share Structures & Family Shareholders: Voting shares must generally be held by registrants — but where the bylaws permit, non-voting shares may be held by family members or holding companies. Working alongside your accountant, we structure share classes to support the tax and estate planning goals of your household.

Growth & Expansion: We advise on opening additional locations under the same banner, multi-practitioner corporations, associate and cost-sharing arrangements, and management company structures for the non-clinical side of a clinic.

Buying or Selling a Practice: Share and asset transactions for buyers and sellers of professional practices — due diligence, clinic leases, and the college notifications and permit changes that follow.

Reorganizations & Corporate Maintenance: Annual permit renewals, registered and records office services, and reorganizations — including bringing an existing company into compliance, amalgamations, and adding holding companies or trusts.

Our clients include professionals regulated across BC's health colleges: physicians and surgeons (College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC); dentists, dental hygienists, and denturists (BC College of Oral Health Professionals); chiropractors, registered massage therapists, naturopathic physicians, and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists (College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC); and physical therapists, optometrists, opticians, psychologists, dietitians, and occupational therapists (College of Health and Care Professionals of BC) — as well as pharmacists and other regulated professionals whose governing bodies impose requirements on how they may incorporate.

Whether you are incorporating for the first time, restructuring an established clinic, or opening your next location, we would be glad to help you put the right structure in place.