When making an offer to buy commercial real estate (or any real estate for that matter), most buyers insert conditions. Conditions basically say "I will buy your real estate IF this event happens to my satisfaction". They are a way of tying up a property while you do your research, or "due diligence".
Common conditions in the Edmonton commercial real estate market are financing, inspection, checking rents and leases, environmental analysis, checking title, checking contracts relating to the real estate, and more.
Because the seller is tying up their property while you do your research, they will impose time limits. These time limits change with the market. When things are selling like hotcakes, sellers will impose shorter time frames and vice-versa. Because commercial properties vary widely, so do the time frames, but 60-90 days are a very common time frame for a buyer to satisfy his conditions.
This next point deals with the law and I am not a lawyer, so check anything I say here with your lawyer. The law generally imposes a duty to act in good faith in contracts. This means a lot of things but one thing it means is that the buyer must make reasonable efforts to satisfy her conditions. It is not inconceivable that a seller could argue to keep a buyer's deposit if the buyer did not make reasonable efforts to satisfy her conditions.
So conditions protect buyers, but you should be serious before entering into a purchase contract so that you don't run into "unintended consequences.