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Buying a home is one of the most important and significant transactions a person will make in their life. It is important that you understand the different requirements and potential costs you may encounter. We created this guide for everything you need to know when buying a home.

Most purchasers and sellers send their agreements to their real estate lawyer after the agreement has already been signed. At this point, it is typically too late to amend or get out of the deal. This is why it is important to have your lawyer review the agreement...

I had a potential client call me this week about a property he owns with his wife, from whom he had recently separated. They are working through their separation agreement, but in the meantime, he felt uncomfortable leaving their house in joint names, as he wanted his...

In Ontario, except for a tiny (less than 1%) fraction of properties across the province that have major title issues, all real estate is done electronically. A lawyer who is licenced to do real estate law in Ontario can close a deal anywhere in the province. So, if...

In Ontario, the law is very clear: common law and legally married are two separate things. In the context of real estate, that means that, if the house is only in your spouse’s name and you aren’t legally married, your spouse can mortgage or sell the property without...

It seems like it should be a simple question: if you’ve never personally bought a house, you should qualify, right? Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. If you live in a home that your legally married spouse owns, you no longer qualify. Same if you are common law (in...

Final tax bills are starting to come out in Simcoe County. Here’s a little known fact: if you don’t pay your property taxes, your city can sell your house in order to collect them. When I was a law student, I prepared tax deeds for people buying these properties....

Short and sweet today: When thinking about the cost of a home, remember to be aware of more than just mortgage payments. You will need to pay taxes, house insurance, and utilities, and you should always budget for repairs and emergencies. When calculating whether you...

With the mortgage rules changing almost daily these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult to qualify for financing. As a result, many young and first-time buyers are turning to parents or other relatives to co-sign the mortgage in order to get that approval. As...

What happens when you own a property jointly with someone, and don’t want to share any more? Your kindergarten teacher probably wouldn’t be happy, but technically, you can sever a joint tenancy without any notice to the other parties. Basically, you do a transfer from...

As a follow up to my post last week, what happens if you’re the one who doesn’t want to close? Generally, if you refuse to close, you must have a legitimate reason. As a buyer, if something is uncovered that would severely affect your enjoyment or use of the house, or...

You put in an offer and it was accepted, but some time before the closing date, the seller decided not to complete the deal. Can you sue to make them sell you the property? In Ontario, there is a concept called “specific performance” which, essentially, means that you...

Barrie always has a lot of new construction going on. New homes in Ontario are subject to HST on the purchase price. Usually, this is built into the offer price, so that you don’t end up having to pay extra, but that always factors in that you’ll qualify for the...

I have had many occasions where purchaser clients arrived at their new home to find it full of items that the vendor left behind; most recently, a buyer client of mine agreed to allow the seller to leave behind a boat that couldn’t be moved because of the weather,...

One of the most common questions I get asked is how difficult it is to add an adult child to the title of your house. The correct question, though, isn’t whether it’s easy to add them on title. The correct question is whether it’s the right thing to do. And the answer...

A few years ago, my husband and I went to visit his family at Christmas. What we didn’t realize was that, just before we left, a toilet that got flushed did not stop running. We returned four days later to find it running, immediately turned it off, and gritted our...

Here are some things that often cause trouble for buyers: Going shopping before meeting with a mortgage broker or agent. You want to know how much you actually have to spend, so that you don’t look at places outside your actual budget. Skipping the financing condition...

For some things, you only get one chance: first time buyer credits for land transfer tax rebates or for income tax claims, for example. However, there is one area where you can have another chance, and that is the RRSP Home Buyer Plan. You can borrow from your RRSP to...

Here’s some great advice when you’re buying: have money set aside for more than just your down payment. You will have fees and adjustments to pay immediately on closing, and I can almost guarantee you will have something to pay within a few months of moving in. Even...

I love the podcast 99% Invisible, and I also subscribe to their newsletter. A while back, they did an article on how far up and down your property ownership goes. I can’t do better than them, so here is a link to the article on this fascinating topic.

Buying a house can be both exciting and scary. Whether it’s your first home or your fourth, there are some questions that you should definitely consider as you start looking. Lifehacker asked people a while ago what they were glad they asked when they bought a house....

Think of your siblings, or perhaps your closest friends. Could you buy a home with them? As in, have permanent, legal roommates?   This is a new trend, mostly among millennials who are finding themselves priced out of hot housing markets. In Toronto, for example,...

There is a lot of fine print in the real estate industry. Purchase and sale agreements, mortgage commitments...there's a lot there that most people don't read too closely. Ultimately, you should, but if you're not going to, you need to at least be aware of what could...

A short time ago, the federal government introduced changes to reporting requirements for selling houses. These rules do not change the actual tax - there are still full exemptions most of the time if it's your principal residence - but now you have to make a...

When the housing market shifts, whether from loss of value or from increased interest rates, an unfortunate consequence is often an increase in properties that are sold under power of sale, or sold by the mortgage lender in order to pay back the mortgage. This...

I get asked a lot about rebates for first-time buyers. The rules can be a bit complex, which is why it happens fairly regularly that someone thinks they qualify when they don’t. Here are the basic rules: You have never owned property anywhere in the world. That means...

It comes down to one point: ask if the executor has gotten their probate order back yet. If they haven’t, there is always a chance that the closing could be delayed, because the seller cannot sell until that order has been returned by the court. If they have it, it’s...

These are becoming increasingly popular as a way for purchasers to get into the housing market before they have a down payment ready. The danger, however, is getting financing down the road when it’s time to close the actual purchase. Many lenders are very hesitant to...

For most of us who live in cities, the answer is, well, I pull up to my driveway from the city street. This isn’t always, the case though; some city dwellers have different access, and many rural properties do. There are different ways that you could access your...

Barrie is the gateway to one of the most popular cottage areas in Ontario, which means that there are a lot of people driving through my city every Friday on their way to their vacation home. Sometimes, those cottages are a short walk from a lake or river; sometimes,...

It’s quite common when you buy to have the right for a few more visits to the house before closing. One of the best times to do one of those visits is the day before or day of closing. It’s not uncommon for me to get a call from a client the day after they move in...

Here’s a companion to my post from two weeks ago: if you are buying, when do you get to start moving in? This is a question that doesn’t have a great answer, because it really depends on a lot of things. First, who is your mortgage with, and have you gotten them...

The short answer: as soon as the deal is closed. Many people have the mistaken idea that they have until midnight, or until 6pm, but neither of those is true. Once the transfer is registered, you are technically trespassing if you’re still there. The long answer,...

If you are selling, there are some things that would always be helpful to have handy, both for your realtor and your lawyer, to ensure a smooth closing: Most recent tax bill. This is helpful to a buyer, and required for your lawyer to apportion the property taxes...

We see a lot of documents in our office that are presented as surveys, but are not surveys. It is only a survey if it is stamped and signed by an Ontario Land Surveyor; if that is not what you have, don’t agree to provide a survey to a buyer. Also be careful about...

The short answer: when they are actually a spouse. There is a lot of confusion about who counts as a spouse in Ontario. For the purpose of consenting to the sale of a matrimonial home, however, you only need consent if you are legally married. A common law spouse is...

Here’s a great video to give you some idea of whether to jump into a hot market. Save

It always surprises me when I find out before closing a purchase or sale for a client that there are significant unpaid property taxes. While most people are aware of the requirement to pay them, I think that many don’t realize that municipalities actually have some...

It’s a fairly common scenario: you purchase a house with a condition on home inspection, the inspector finds something wrong, and the seller agrees to have it fixed on or before closing. What’s the problem? Well, it’s with the wording: on or before. That phrase means...

Often, properties have restrictive covenants or easements that limit what you can do, often along the edges of your property. These can be things like limiting signage, not having a clothesline, or keeping several feet along the edge for water or sewer pipes....

There is a lot that goes into selling a house, even in a very hot market like many cities are in right now. Here are some big errors that people get caught in: Not using a professional. Realtor, stager, handy person: doing it yourself will almost always cause problems...

Here’s a new trend: in hot real estate markets, such as Toronto and Vancouver, people are buying houses together with friends and family in order to afford a proper house. Each person puts in a defined portion of the down payment and closing costs, and they each get...

In Ontario, home inspectors have no formal regulation. They are often people who used to work in the construction industry – plumbers, electricians, or even building inspectors – but while there is an association of home inspectors, they have not been not formally...

When you are house hunting, especially for the first time, it can be very easy to get caught up in the search and overlook some important things. Here are some that warrant some thought: Don’t fall in love with the house. Think rationally: is it an older house that...

Ontario has a number of excellent tax rebates for first-time buyers. One of the biggest ones is the rebate on the provincial Land Transfer Tax (LTT) (and equivalent rebates on the Municipal Land Transfer Tax if you live in Toronto). If you qualify, you can get up to...

It is quite common in real estate agreements to see a paragraph where the buyer agrees to accept basic easements, subdivision agreements and restrictive covenants. These are often on title and have been for years or even decades, and would be very difficult for a...

For some people, the history of the people in the house they are buying is irrelevant; for some, it’s only relevant if there was something violent; and for others, any issues are important to know and address before deciding to go ahead with a purchase. I had clients...

With house prices on the rise and interest rates remaining historically low, it has become very common for young homebuyers to jump into the market while they can still afford to buy, but require a family member, often a parent, to co-sign or guarantee the mortgage in...

UFFI, or urea-formaldehyde foam insulation, is a synthetic type of insulation that is injected into the walls of a house. It was used extensively in homes in the 1970s, until it was discovered that it produced some adverse health effects from formaldehyde vapour...

I see it all the time – a buyer puts in an offer that is accepted, the home inspector finds some deficiencies, and the seller agrees to have the work completed “on or before closing.” I hate that wording. On or before closing means that it can be done any time before...

It’s quite common to make your mortgage payments weekly, biweekly or semi-monthly. Sometimes, this works out with the date that you close your mortgage – closing date is a Tuesday, and you want your payments to come out on Tuesdays. Sometimes, you want a different day...

I’ve been talking a lot about sellers recently, because that’s where I’ve seen the most issues over the past several months. Last week I wrote about the problems that can come up when you forget about a rental item. Today, it’s mixing up what a survey is. A formal...

I had several clients over this past summer who had issues with selling parts of their houses. Specifically, the offer didn’t mention something that the buyer had every right to assume was owned and would be transferred (whether a hot water heater, water softener or...

It’s my least favourite call: telling a seller that they don’t have quite enough money to close, and that they will need to bring some in in order to satisfy what must be paid out. Sometimes, this is because there is a much higher mortgage penalty than the client...

In Barrie, most home offers are conditional on something – financing, insurance and home inspection are very common, but it’s not unusual to also see a condition of sale of the purchaser’s home, or septic or well inspections for rural properties. If you accept an...

I have a lot of clients who purchase homes or condos before ground has broken, intending to move in at the time construction is completed. Sometimes this is a matter of months; sometimes it can be years. The longer the wait between offer and moving, however, the more...

There are very few people in this world who truly enjoy paying taxes. One of the least liked taxes in Canada is capital gains tax, that you pay whenever you sell an asset for more than you paid for it. There is an exemption for a principal residence – if you own a...

In law, there is often a lot of grey, but the essential rules are black and white. For example, contracts require three basic elements: offer, acceptance, and consideration. If I offer to buy your house for $200,000, and you accept that price, then we have a binding...

Living in the digital age, we often go straight online to find information about products or services we are looking for. My husband and I picked our honeymoon destination based on reviews of the best places to travel in November; however, after choosing the location,...

Here's something short and sweet: a great infographic on how much you need to earn to buy a home across Canada. Unfortunately you can't search city-by-city, but it's a great snapshot nonetheless. Check it out here.

When you buy a house with one (or more) other people, there are two main options for how to go on title. For most couples, the best plan is joint tenancy. This means that you both own the whole property, which allows the survivor to take over ownership of the property...

When you decide to buy your first home, there is a lot to think about, Here are some good tips to make the process a whole lot better: Start saving now. The earlier you start saving, the more likely you are to get over that magic 20% threshold. Less than 20% down and,...

A lot of people talk about the best mortgage solely in terms of the best rate. However, there are other considerations you should keep in mind when shopping for a mortgage. First, how long is the term? A shorter term means you have the flexibility to easily get out of...

Often, when people go house hunting, they think about what they need or want in a house, or what the neighbourhood is like, or how close they will be to a particular school or to family. Something else that you should always consider is how much house you can afford,...

A few years ago, a friend of mine was planning to look for a home. He was initially focused on condos, until we had a long conversation about what he ideally would love in a home. Digging a bit deeper, I helped him to realize that the main thing he truly wanted was to...

Last week, I talked about what I do on a purchase. This week, it’s about sales. Some of the work is similar between a purchase and a sale. I will still review an offer if the seller wishes to have that done, and we open the file in the same manner and start working on...

Most of the time, for most people, what I do on your real estate deal is a bit mysterious. You send over your agreement, and a few weeks or months later, you go in to sign paperwork. So, what exactly have I been doing that whole time? The first thing I do, if it’s in...

In very circular logic, title insurance protects your title. There are a number of things that title insurance actually protects against. From a neighbour’s fence encroaching onto your property, to the seller not actually getting a permit to rewire the house, to there...

What do you do if the listing says one thing, and it turns out to be different? It’s not uncommon to see a lot of grand claims in listings. Usually, they’re not demonstrably false. However, you do need to be careful if you want them to be true. If the seller has said...

A long time ago, I wrote a post on the two systems of property ownership in Ontario. I thought it was probably time to revisit this. Originally, most of northern Ontario was in the Land Titles system, while southern Ontario was in Land Registry. About 20 years ago,...

This happens more often than you would think: your purchase offer states that the seller has to do certain repairs before closing, and they aren’t done. There are a few options when this happens. One is extending the closing until the work is done, which is usually...

In our office, whenever we open a new sale file, the first thing we do is a quick title search on the property. While this isn’t legally necessary, as the buyer’s lawyer will eventually do a full title search, we have found it to be extremely useful because sometimes,...

The Ontario and Toronto governments have very clear rebates for first-time buyers on land transfer tax, which can save buyers thousands on each tax if they are truly first-time buyers and if they qualify. I have had several buyers recently who expected the rebate and...

I have many clients who purchase homes with their spouse or common law partner. Some have been together a long time and have owned multiple properties together; some are recently merging their finances; some are moving in together for the first time. None of them...

Many real estate woes can be solved by everyone being on the same page from the outset. Is there something that you thought you were buying with the house? Include it as a chattel, even if you think it’s a fixture. Conversely, exclude fixtures even if you think...

It’s almost summer, and that means spending as much time as possible in our backyards. If you’re thinking about a new deck, keep these tips in mind so that you don’t have trouble down the road when you try to sell: Do you need a permit? Some decks do, and some don’t....

Spring is in the air in southern Ontario; April has arrived with its showers, and it’s only a matter of time before we all break out our sandals and start dreaming about swimming outdoors. For many people, it is almost time to open up the cottage for the season. For...

In my estates practice, I see a lot of people ask me about adding a child on title to their house in order to avoid probate. I usually talk them out of it. There are a number of reasons this can be a very bad idea: You can’t change your mind later without the child’s...

A friend emailed me the other day, asking if I would represent her for her house purchase in Guelph. While I would have been happy to do so, the Law Society requires me to physically examine her ID in order to confirm she is who she says she is, and it would have been...

It doesn’t happen often, but a few times over the years, I have had clients call me to let me know that they had firm agreements to sell their homes and had changed their mind and wanted out. They wanted to know if there was any chance that they could do so. The short...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about whether you have to disclose a ghost in your home. What happens if there is something a bit more concrete, such as a flood? And what if it happens after the agreement is signed? Generally speaking, damage is divided into latent and...

RECO, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (the regulator for Ontario’s realtors), has a quiz up on their website to test your knowledge of buying or selling real estate. Many of the questions indicate what the right answer should be, but there are some good points and...

Here’s a question I get asked all the time: do you have to disclose if you think there is a ghost in your house? The short answer is no. While there are currently some cases working their way through the courts about disclosure of past murders, stigmas do not have to...

Conventional wisdom is that it is always better to buy than to rent, and that a house is always a good investment. That may not be quite true. There are lots of great reasons to buy, but probably almost as many not to. And buying as an investment is another ballgame...

Here are some tips on paying a deposit on a real estate purchase: The deposit is not paid until the offer is accepted, and you can usually agree to pay it within 24 or 48 hours of acceptance. It does not need to be certified funds. Refusing to pay the deposit does not...

It’s no secret that I love the website Lifehacker. There are all sorts of great tips and advice over there. A while ago, I came across this article (http://lifehacker.com/the-start-to-finish-guide-to-buying-a-home-1663317601), and wanted to share its top points....

I am a big believer in realtors. I think that, most of the time, they are conscientious and committed to helping their clients, and they make my job easier. Most of the time, you will not pay upfront for a realtor’s services. You get the benefit of all of their work,...

I live in Barrie, a small city about an hour’s drive north of Toronto. Well, an hour when there isn’t too much traffic, and given how close we are to the city, that means not during prime commuting times morning and evening. Barrie has a very high population of...

I have clients who bought a building a while ago to use as an office. They have been in business for a long time, but commercial lending is much stricter than personal lending. Fortunately, the seller had no mortgage, and was content to give my clients a mortgage back...

When you buy a brand-new home from a builder, the agreement often states that certain features can be changed at the builder’s sole discretion, such as flipping the house to a mirror image floorplan, adding or removing garage access to the house or a basement walkout,...

Most purchase agreements provide for one or two additional visits after the agreement has gone firm, usually to take measurements for furniture and to check on the progress of any agreed-upon repairs. Another good time to have a walkthrough? Right before closing....

Many people think that buying is automatically better than renting; this is not always the case. However, it can be tricky to figure out whether buying a house is in fact better for you, so I love tools that make it easier to figure out if you’re ready to own a house....

Last week, I wrote about murder and suicide. This week, it’s cemeteries. Last year, a couple in Chatham bought a piece of vacant land, intending to build a home on it. They received a building permit, and began to excavate. Partway through, they discovered several...

Not long ago, Calgary experienced its worst mass murder ever when a student pulled out a knife at an end-of-school house party and killed five people. Recently, that house went up for sale. In Ontario, as in most of North America, there is no legal requirement for a...

If it does, get it in writing. There are so many times that buyer clients call me after closing to let me know that the seller took something they thought was supposed to be left. Sometimes it is clear in the agreement; sometimes it is ambiguous, it was in the listing...

Most people, when buying a new home, budget for the obvious things: a down payment, a moving truck, closing costs. There are some other things you should always keep in mind, however, so that they don’t creep up on you just when you least expect them, and can least...

I have written before about the Seller Property Information Sheet. When I’m acting for the buyer, they’re great; when I’m acting for the seller, I don’t like them one bit. Because of the increased liability they had a habit of causing, they disappeared for quite a...

This is a really cool tool: enter in the amount of the mortgage you are thinking about, and it will calculate regular payments as well as how long it will take to get to certain points of principal being paid down. Check it out here.

I have a lot of clients ask me about adding a child on title to their house. Usually, I do my best to talk them out of it. In very limited circumstances, it can make sense to add a child on title. I had one client who had only one child; that child had moved in with...

Last week, I blogged about why sellers have to disclose certain issues to buyers. This week, I want to talk about agents. The seller is liable if he or she hides something. However, if the seller doesn’t try to hide something, but the agent discourages the buyer from...

In Ontario, we have a buyer beware real estate system: generally, the seller does not have to disclose anything about the house. The exception to that rule, of course, is that the seller cannot actively conceal anything about the house. If you had a leaky roof and...

If you are buying a house, it is important to have everything that is important to you in writing. Want the owners to keep mowing the lawn until closing? Get it in writing. Want that beautiful light fixture in the dining room? Get it in writing. This is fairly common...

Last week, I blogged about questions to ask when buying a new home vs. a resale home. Here’s something else to think about: are you buying a view or a neighbour? There are often premiums paid to buy next to a field, ravine, forest, etc. Many people want to live there...

One of the first things you will have to decide when you start house-hunting is whether you want to buy a brand-new home, built by a builder, or a resale home, sold by the current owner. New means that no one has ever lived in it before, and you get to pick all of...

Most of what we do in a law office is behind the scenes, so when we ask for certain things, sometimes clients are a bit taken aback (especially as some of it can be a bit personal). Rest assured, we won’t ask for anything we don’t actually need from you. When you are...

According to the Housing Affordability Index, bungalows and two-storey homes in Canada increased in price by just under 0.5% last year. That may not seem like a huge amount, but it means that house prices are definitely on the rise. In a high-price market such as...

It is not at all uncommon for me to receive an agreement of purchase and sale that is not initialled on each page. While there is no legal requirement that each page be initialled, and the contract can still be valid, it is still important to initial each page. Having...

It is very standard when you buy a home to take over certain rental contracts. The most common is the hot water heater; in southern Ontario at least, it is far more common to rent a hot water heater than to own one, and generally the contract is transferred to the...

I acted for a client back in November who was selling a house that had belonged to his father, and that he had inherited. On the day before closing, I got a phone call from the buyer’s lawyer that the lender required an appraisal and that they would not get financing...

I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients ask me how they can enforce something the seller said that they would do. Ultimately, if the seller refuses, it is much more difficult to enforce a verbal agreement. My best advice? Get it in writing. If the agreement...

The practice of real estate law is sometimes a bit of a mystery to the public. When people hear the word “lawyer,” they immediately think of Law & Order and courtroom work. What happens on the transactional end isn’t as exciting to the outsider, but there are a...

Gary, Indiana has had a lot of troubles over the years. A prosperous steel town in the 1960s,when it was home to the Jackson 5, its population has plummeted by half since then, and unemployment rates have risen. One of its many problems is a high percentage of homes...

Here’s a neat story out of my hometown: Harmony Village, which will be going up in downtown Barrie (hopefully) next year. Harmony Village will be a mix of condo towers, townhomes, and commercial space, right on the water of Kempenfelt Bay. Check out their website for...

Sellers are required to guarantee that your appliances are in good working order on the day of closing. What happens if the fridge breaks two days later? Any damage that occurs after the date of closing is the responsibility of the buyer. So, that stove is your repair...

In the Barrie area, we have several adult communities; most notable are Hoe Doe Valley, Big Cedar Estates and Sandy Cove Acres. All of these communities are comprised of communal areas and, generally, mobile (or otherwise movable) homes. Sometimes, the land is owned;...

In Ontario, if you want to buy or sell a home, you are required to go through a lawyer as only licensed and insured real estate lawyers are entitled to register transfers of property. There is extra insurance required to practice real estate law in Ontario, and so not...

The Globe and Mail published this article a couple of months ago on the possible real estate bubble in Canada. Essentially, the author and those she spoke with raised concerns about the overall debt load of Canadians, and our ability to hold on to our homes when...

There is a lot of construction going on in the south end of Barrie right now, with one of the major projects being the expansion of Mapleview Drive between Bayview Drive and Huronia Road. There is also talk that Mapleview is going to be expanded straight through to...

I check in regularly at OntarioHomeOwner.com for news about anything and everything related to real estate. The other day, I saw a post stating that it is now legal to use violence when protecting your home. Some background: In 2006, Cedric Forde, a career criminal,...

Often, when I'm at home, I daydream a bit about what I would do with my house if I had unlimited funds. Conveniently, there is now a website that will let me run wild with those daydreams. I was on Twitter the other day when I saw a post by Mashable about Houzz, a new...

It is very common for properties to be transferred subject to easements. But you may be wondering, what exactly is an easement in the first place? In a nutshell, an easement is a real property law term for the right to use someone else’s property without actually...

The Globe and Mail published an article a few weeks ago on tips for first-time buyers. In a nutshell: don't overspend on furniture or "unnecessary" remodelling; don't ignore important maintenance; hire qualified people if you do need to do repairs; get help with your...

How far would you go to be mortgage-free? Or maybe a better way to say it would be, how small would you go? I have recently discovered the blog Hooked on Houses. Julia writes about all things house-related, from unusual listing pictures to movie houses to random house...

The Ontario Court of Appeal released a decision a few weeks ago that could have far-reaching effects for home sellers and realtors in Ontario. The decision, Krawchuk v. Scherbak, involved a first-time buyer who purchased a home in Sudbury. The sellers filled out an...

I see a lot of people who are buying their first homes. They have often done the math, and determined that it makes financial sense to buy. It doesn’t always, though. If you move around a lot for work, for example, closing costs might make buying impractical. Buying...

A few weeks ago, I guest blogged on LiveHigh.com about closing costs for condo buyers. Last week, I was invited back to guest blog about closing costs for condo sellers. You can read my post here. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to guest blog on this site....

Chris Jaglowitz blogged last week about the 10th anniversary of Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998. Now, you may be saying, “1998 was 13 years ago.” However, as Chris writes in the post, it took over two years for the Act to come into effect, making it 10 years old this...

I was recently asked to guest blog on LiveHigh.com, a website dedicated to condo buyers and owners in the Greater Toronto Area. The four main points to remember: your down payment; tax and condo fee adjustments; legal fees and disbursements; and Land Transfer Tax and...

I frequently get asked this question: what does the seller have to tell me about problems with the home? The short answer is: nothing. In Ontario, there is a caveat emptor or “buyer beware” system for real estate. While sellers are prohibited from actively hiding...

I have a confession: a guilty pleasure of mine is Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s show, Til Debt Do Us Part, which I watch very regularly (even though I may claim it’s only because it’s on while I’m at the gym). On the show, Gail commandeers a family that is struggling with debt,...

A few weeks ago, I blogged about adverse possession. Adverse possession is only possible in one type of land ownership: the Land Registry system. In Ontario, parts of the province, particularly in the north, have always been in the Land Titles system, while the...

In 2006, Glenda Halliwell made an offer on a home. She explained to her realtor, Lazarus, that she was sensitive to mould, and that she wanted to ensure that the house she was buying did not have mould. Her realtor recommended a particular home inspector, Edwards....

If you live in an urban subdivision built in the past ten or 15 years, chances are the borders of your property are exactly where they appear to be – right down the fence line and to the edge of the street. There is an extremely low likelihood that part of your deck...

I was reading the Globe and Mail yesterday and came across this article about an extreme surveying blunder. Essentially, because of surveying errors by the provincial government on First Nations lands dating back over 100 years, many people in the Squamish area of...

I attended a conference yesterday through the Ontario Bar Association called the Institute of Continuing Professional Development. It is an annual program for lawyers in Ontario that provides an overview of developments in every area of law. I spent the morning...

Most people will have heard the news announced by the federal government on Monday about the new mortgage rules that will take effect this spring. There are three main changes: the maximum amortization on federally insured mortgages will now be 30 years instead of 35;...

Last week, the Ontario Court of Appeal released a decision in Citi Cards Canada Inc. v. Pleasance. In this case, Citi Financial wanted to collect on a credit card debt of $11,000.00 through a forced sale of the debtor’s home. In order to do so, however, it needed...

It’s an all-too-common situation: you get the call from your lawyer that your keys are ready, you head over to your new home, and you find the vendors still there, packing up the house. What happens if the vendors haven’t moved yet? Technically, once the deal has...

Your home is likely the largest investment you will ever make. However, while most investments carry a large tax burden when you sell them for a profit, your home benefits from federal rules to encourage home ownership. As long as the property is your principal...

A condo declaration is a document that creates the condominium corporation. It defines what each unit is physically, establishes the common elements, and assigns responsibility for repair and maintenance of each unit and the common areas. It also sets out each owner’s...

Unfortunately, I occasionally have a client call me after a purchase has closed to let me know that there was damage in the house – a broken railing, a damaged pool filter, or even that the vendor took all of the light fixtures and curtain rods. If you arrive at your...

We’ve all read the stories coming out of the US about the crash of the housing market and the devastating amount of foreclosures, many of which were done improperly. I read an article recently in the New York Times about an unusual way some homeowners are going about...

Chris Jaglowitz at the Ontario Condo Law Blog posted an article last month detailing some changes to Tarion’s rules on adjustments for taxes and development charges. As he notes, the existing rules allow a municipality to adjust for taxes based on estimates without...

When purchasing a property, it is important to keep in mind that there are more costs than simply the purchase price. As I have blogged about here and here, there are a number of disbursements that you should always factor in when budgeting for your home purchase. One...

If you are purchasing a home that is currently rented out (or has an apartment that is currently rented out), there are extra precautions that you should take to ensure that the closing will go smoothly, whether you intend to have the tenancies severed on closing or...

What happens when one joint tenant (or tenant in common) wants out of a property and the other says no? There is a piece of legislation in Ontario called the Partition Act that governs the concept of partition and sale, when a court can order that property be...

I read an interesting article recently in the New York Times on the foreclosure epidemic in the United States and the role that title insurance is playing there. Because of extreme sloppiness, many American banks have halted all foreclosures while they determine...

Condos were created in Ontario by the Condominium Act in 1967. In a nutshell, a condo is a system of property ownership that involves the division of property into units that are individually owned, common elements that are owned in common by the owners of all units...

There is a case in British Columbia from 2007 that addressed the old concept of “caveat emptor” or “Buyer Beware”. In British Columbia, as in Ontario, it is the buyer’s obligation to determine whether there is anything wrong with a house before purchase; it is not the...

On August 27, I blogged about disbursements and what they are. Today I wanted to write more about one disbursement in particular: title searching. Title searching is done to determine whether there are any agreements, easements, restrictions, etc. on title that could...

Every now and then I have a client ask me if they have to close; this is usually days away from the closing date. There are various reasons why people change their minds late in the game, but the end result is the same: it is very difficult to refuse to close with no...

Andrea Krywonis over at the Ontario Condo Law Blog wrote a post on Wednesday about a case where a condo owner was forced to sell her unit because of extreme bad behaviour toward the other owners and to the condo property. This included physical violence to other...

In Canada, whenever you purchase a property and finance more than 80% of the purchase price you are required to purchase mortgage default insurance. This is generally purchased through one of two companies, either Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) or...

In Ontario, closing costs on a real estate transaction are divided into fees and disbursements. Fees are fixed by lawyers for their time; disbursements are costs that are incurred by the lawyer on the client’s behalf, and are reimbursed by the client on closing....

Buying a home can be complicated; buying a recreational property can be even more so. Homes outside of urban centres generally are on septic systems and wells, and often use fuel oil or propane for heating. There may be access issues, and rural lots can be more...

When you buy a new home, there are always more costs than your down payment. Closing costs involve costs such as from real estate commissions (if you are selling), land transfer tax (if you are buying), legal fees and disbursements and moving costs. You should always...

In Ontario, most real estate transfers are completed electronically; at last check, 97% of land registry offices were equipped to do electronic registration. Everything from title searches to registration of mortgages to transfers of property is completed online, with...

There are several ways of taking title to property in Ontario, with the two most common being joint tenancy and tenancy in common. Joint tenancy means that two (or more) people jointly own the entire interest in the property. If one joint tenant dies, the other...

The Globe and Mail posted an article yesterday called “10 worst first-time homebuyer mistakes”. While the contents are based on American real estate law, they are certainly applicable to what first-time buyers should be aware of when purchasing property in Ontario....

Land transfer tax is imposed by the provincial government on all purchases of property in Ontario (with an additional tax imposed by the City of Toronto for properties purchased there). It is equivalent to approximately 1.5% of the purchase price. Land transfer tax...

I received a mailer the other day advising me to speak to someone at an unnamed financial institution about title insurance in order to protect myself from fraud. Title insurance is a very valuable tool; it protects you from any problems with the title to your...

On June 19, 2009, the federal government passed legislation that implemented Ontario’s new Harmonized Sales Tax, which will take effect on July 1, 2010. For information on how it will affect condo buildings, see this post at The Condo Law Blog. While the tax will not...

The second tax instalment was due this week in Barrie. Municipal taxes are set based on your property’s assessed value; that value is determined by a company called the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. MPAC looks at five main five factors: location, lot...