Can the doctrine of caveat emptor be displaced by express terms in a contract?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from St. Michaels (Bletchley) Limited v. Schickedanz Properties B.C. Ltd., 2011 BCSC 1587 (CanLII):

The difficultly with this contention is that the doctrine of caveat emptor can be displaced by express terms in a contract. In Fraser-Reid v. Droumtsekas (1979), 1979 CanLII 55 (SCC), [1980] 1 S.C.R. 720 at 723 Dickson J. wrote: Although the common law doctrine of caveat emptor has long since ceased to play any significant part in the sale of goods, it has lost little of its pristine force in the sale of land...[It] remains a force to be reckoned with by the credulous or indolent purchaser of housing property. Lacking express warranties, he may be in difficulty because there is no implied warranty of fitness for human habitation upon the purchase of a house already completed at the time of sale...[A] purchaser must fend for himself, seeking protection by express warranty or by independent examination of the premises. If he fails to do either, he is without remedy either at law or in equity, in the absence of fraud or fundamental difference between that which was bargained for and that obtained. (emphasis added)

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