1000 plain-language Q&As about real estate. Browse below, or search the whole library.
Physically separating from a spouse doesn't end matrimonial home status on its own — that generally continues until the marriage itself legally ends,…
Read the full answer →Adding a spouse to title involves registering a transfer at the Land Registry Office that conveys either a half-interest or a full joint tenancy to…
Read the full answer →Ontario's provincial planning policy has pushed toward allowing additional residential units as-of-right in many residential areas, meaning that where…
Read the full answer →The adjustment date is the date from which the statement of adjustments divides financial obligations between the buyer and the seller. In most Ontario…
Read the full answer →Adverse possession — sometimes called squatter's rights — is a legal doctrine that allowed a person who openly occupied someone else's land for a long…
Read the full answer →Adverse possession is a legal doctrine that can allow someone who occupies land openly, continuously, and without permission — for at least ten years —…
Read the full answer →Yes, nearby aggregate or gravel pit operations can affect a private well, since large-scale extraction can alter local groundwater flow, lower the…
Read the full answer →Yes, the agreement of purchase and sale (APS) governs what adjustments are made on the statement of adjustments. The standard Ontario APS form includes…
Read the full answer →Yes, generally. Alterations affecting the heritage attributes identified in a property's designating bylaw typically require municipal approval before…
Read the full answer →A co-tenancy clause is a lease provision, common among smaller retail tenants in a plaza, that ties their own rent or continued occupancy to the…
Read the full answer →A committee of adjustment's decision on a minor variance can generally be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal by a party with standing, which…
Read the full answer →Yes, an owner generally has an opportunity to object during the designation process itself, and a further right to challenge the decision if the…
Read the full answer →Yes, generally. If a municipality refuses to approve site plan drawings, or fails to make a decision within the applicable timeframe, an applicant…
Read the full answer →No. Commission rates in Ontario are not set or regulated by law, by RECO, or by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board or any other board. There is no…
Read the full answer →Yes. In Ontario, real estate commissions are a taxable supply for HST purposes. When a brokerage charges you a commission on the sale of your home, HST…
Read the full answer →Asbestos was widely used in insulation, flooring, and other building materials in Ontario homes built before the 1990s, and its mere presence,…
Read the full answer →Selling a home in a land-lease community involves two separate steps: transferring ownership of the physical home to your buyer, and assigning the site…
Read the full answer →Whether you remain liable after an assignment depends on the language of the original purchase agreement with the builder and the terms of the…
Read the full answer →Whether a builder can refuse to consent to your assignment depends entirely on the terms of your original purchase agreement. If the agreement gives…
Read the full answer →When you buy a condo assignment, you inherit the original purchaser's position under the purchase agreement — including all the closing date risks that…
Read the full answer →The deposit structure in an assignment transaction is more complex than a standard new-construction purchase. The original buyer (assignor) has already…
Read the full answer →Financing a condo assignment purchase is more complicated than obtaining a mortgage for a standard new-build or resale property, and some lenders will…
Read the full answer →The HST treatment of a condo assignment sale is one of the most important and commonly misunderstood issues in Ontario real estate. The Canada Revenue…
Read the full answer →An assignment occurs when the original buyer of a pre-construction condominium (the "assignor") sells their rights under the purchase agreement to a…
Read the full answer →Buying a condo assignment is riskier than buying directly from a builder because you inherit the original buyer's position with less protection. Before…
Read the full answer →If the original purchaser of a new-construction condo dies before the final closing, the purchase agreement does not automatically terminate — it…
Read the full answer →In a condo assignment transaction, both the assignor and the assignee typically have their own legal fees to pay, and it is generally expected that…
Read the full answer →If property values have declined since you signed either the original purchase agreement or the assignment agreement, and the purchase price is now…
Read the full answer →Some Ontario new-construction purchase agreements contain clauses that prohibit the buyer from assigning the agreement at all, or that prohibit…
Read the full answer →When you purchase a condo through an assignment, your name does not appear on title until the final (registration) closing — the point at which the…
Read the full answer →Yes, profit from an assignment sale must be reported to the Canada Revenue Agency. The key question is how it is characterized — as a capital gain or…
Read the full answer →Both routes have distinct advantages and risks that depend on your situation and priorities. Buying directly from the builder gives you a 10-day…
Read the full answer →Only with the lender's consent. Assuming a seller's existing commercial mortgage isn't automatic just because the buyer would like to keep the existing…
Read the full answer →For a last month's rent deposit, generally yes; Ontario's rules do not typically permit a general security deposit beyond a last month's rent deposit…
Read the full answer →Yes. The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 allows a tenant to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for a remedy where they believe a purchaser's or…
Read the full answer →Yes, in the sense that your obligation to complete the purchase on the scheduled date generally does not depend on whose fault a delay was. Ontario…
Read the full answer →Both are distressed-purchase situations, but they arise from different processes and involve different sellers. A power of sale is a specific remedy a…
Read the full answer →The core financial risk is that you generally cannot simply raise the rent to market levels after buying the property; the Residential Tenancies Act,…
Read the full answer →Where the will gives the estate trustee discretion over whether to sell or retain a property, the trustee generally has the authority to make that…
Read the full answer →It depends heavily on the stage the sale and the estate administration are at. If the trustee already has a valid Certificate of Appointment and the…
Read the full answer →An application under the Boundaries Act is a formal process for conclusively establishing and confirming the true location of a property boundary…
Read the full answer →Not automatically, and this is a common and costly misunderstanding. An informal boundary agreement, even a genuine, good-faith understanding reached…
Read the full answer →A bring-down search is a final title search your lawyer runs shortly before registration to confirm nothing has changed on title since the earlier,…
Read the full answer →Each Agreement of Purchase and Sale in a chain is legally independent, so one sale collapsing does not automatically unwind the transactions on either…
Read the full answer →Ontario's brownfield framework, set out under the Environmental Protection Act, offers a buyer redeveloping a formerly contaminated site a path to…
Read the full answer →Development charges are fees that Ontario municipalities levy on new construction to fund growth-related infrastructure — roads, water, sewers, parks,…
Read the full answer →Yes, upgrades and extras purchased from a builder on a new condominium in Ontario are generally subject to HST. When you select upgrades — such as…
Read the full answer →Generally, no, not without the consent of whoever holds the rights under that utility easement, even though you hold title to, and pay taxes on, the…
Read the full answer →Building something that doesn't comply with the zoning bylaw without first obtaining the required minor variance generally puts you in violation of the…
Read the full answer →The Bulk Sales Act was an older Ontario law that required a business selling most of its stock or assets outside the ordinary course of business to…
Read the full answer →If a seller genuinely didn't know about a buried fuel tank, the usual disclosure principle, which turns on a seller's actual knowledge of a hazardous…
Read the full answer →Yes. Under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, a residential tenancy is not ended by a change in who owns the property, so when you buy a tenanted…
Read the full answer →Review the actual lease term carefully, since whether it is a fixed term or already month-to-month affects how soon certain future steps could even be…
Read the full answer →A commercial building typically runs on a network of ongoing service contracts that keep it operating day to day: elevator maintenance, HVAC servicing,…
Read the full answer →Generally, buying a commercial property alone, meaning the real estate itself rather than the operating business, doesn't automatically make the buyer…
Read the full answer →Generally yes, in the sense that an already-filed application and its hearing process continue regardless of the change in ownership, and the new owner…
Read the full answer →Not automatically, but it is not always a clean no either. A truly casual, undocumented favour the previous landlord extended is generally not binding…
Read the full answer →A buyer who fails to withhold when required under the federal non-resident disposition rules can become personally liable to the Canada Revenue Agency…
Read the full answer →A buyer who fails to complete without a valid excuse is generally in breach of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, and the seller has several potential…
Read the full answer →A Buyer Representation Agreement (BRA) is a written contract between you and a real estate brokerage that sets out the terms on which the brokerage…
Read the full answer →Yes, a new owner can potentially use this process to end a tenancy so that themselves or a qualifying family member can move in, but this notice is…
Read the full answer →Buying a condominium in Ontario without a lawyer is not advisable — and for most transactions involving a mortgage, the lender requires one. Your real…
Read the full answer →Beyond the usual title, tax, and property searches you would do for any purchase, a receivership sale calls for a close look at the receivership…
Read the full answer →Beyond the usual tenanted-property considerations, a furnished student rental raises a few specific questions worth confirming before closing: whether…
Read the full answer →Before buying one half of a duplex, check exactly how services like water, hydro, and heating are metered and billed between the two units, since some…
Read the full answer →A buyer considering a heritage-designated property should start by obtaining and carefully reading the actual designating bylaw, since it identifies…
Read the full answer →Buying a hotel or motel is rarely just a real estate transaction — it's usually also buying an operating business, and due diligence needs to reflect…
Read the full answer →Former gas stations and dry cleaners are two of the classic red-flag former uses in environmental due diligence, because both commonly involved…
Read the full answer →Buying a pre-construction condominium in Ontario involves risks not present in resale purchases. The most common are: construction delays (projects…
Read the full answer →An unregistered or non-compliant secondary suite carries risks beyond just the tenancy occupying it. If the unit does not comply with local zoning or…
Read the full answer →An eviction order from the Landlord and Tenant Board does not simply disappear or need to be started over because the property is sold while…
Read the full answer →The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 generally applies to a residential tenancy whether or not there is a written lease and regardless of how rent…
Read the full answer →Buying with a family member — a parent, sibling, or adult child — can be a practical way to enter the housing market, but the legal and financial…
Read the full answer →Discovering a hoarding situation or significant property damage before closing is a serious due-diligence issue that deserves immediate attention…
Read the full answer →Buying jointly with parents is an increasingly common way to enter the Ontario housing market, but it raises questions about ownership structure, tax,…
Read the full answer →A liquor licence is issued by Ontario's alcohol regulator to a specific licensee, the business operator, not to the real property itself, so simply…
Read the full answer →Some Ontario municipalities regulate rooming, lodging, or boarding houses through specific local bylaws that go beyond ordinary residential rental…
Read the full answer →If your Agreement of Purchase and Sale made vacant possession a genuine obligation of the seller and the seller cannot deliver it, the seller is…
Read the full answer →Each buyer's first-time status is assessed independently. If you have never owned a home and your partner has previously owned one, you qualify as a…
Read the full answer →Common area maintenance (CAM) reconciliation is the year-end process of comparing what tenants were charged throughout the year in estimated CAM costs…
Read the full answer →Yes, but with significant disclosure requirements. Ontario's real estate regulations under TRESA require that when a registrant (agent or broker) or…
Read the full answer →The rules around offer confidentiality in Ontario have evolved. The general principle under TRESA is that a brokerage cannot disclose the details of…
Read the full answer →Once a wire has actually landed in a lawyer's trust account, reversing it is difficult and not something a bank can simply do on its own initiative. A…
Read the full answer →No. Once both parties have signed the Agreement of Purchase and Sale and any irrevocability or counter-offer period has resolved into a binding…
Read the full answer →Yes, in most Ontario residential transactions buyers have a right to conduct one pre-closing inspection of the property, typically in the twenty-four…
Read the full answer →Yes — having a co-signer or guarantor can help you qualify for a mortgage if your income, credit, or down payment is not sufficient on its own. A…
Read the full answer →Yes, in most cases the board of directors can increase common expenses without a vote of unit owners. Under the Condominium Act, 1998, the board has…
Read the full answer →No. In Ontario you can only enter into one binding Agreement of Purchase and Sale at a time. Once you sign back (counter-sign) one offer and the…
Read the full answer →Once all conditions in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale have been waived or satisfied, the deal is firm and legally binding. At that point, backing…
Read the full answer →Breaking your mortgage to get a lower rate is sometimes financially worthwhile, but the math needs careful analysis before you commit. The key question…
Read the full answer →Listing agreements in Ontario are contracts between you and the brokerage — not the individual agent. Cancelling the agreement early typically requires…
Read the full answer →Yes. There is no law in Ontario requiring you to use a real estate agent to sell your home. Private sales — sometimes called FSBO (For Sale By Owner) —…
Read the full answer →Yes, a continuing power of attorney for property (CPOA) granted under Ontario's Substitute Decisions Act authorizes the attorney (the person given the…
Read the full answer →Yes — switching lenders at renewal is generally straightforward and penalty-free. When your term ends, you are no longer locked in, so the prepayment…
Read the full answer →Yes, receiving a gift from a parent or other family member to help with a down payment is common and permitted by most lenders, including those…
Read the full answer →Once a seller has accepted your offer — even if conditions remain outstanding — they are generally bound by the Agreement of Purchase and Sale and…
Read the full answer →Once a seller has signed and accepted an offer and all conditions have been waived or fulfilled, the deal is firm and the seller is legally bound to…
Read the full answer →Yes. Closing in escrow or as a gap closing is a cooperative arrangement between the parties, not something a buyer can insist on or that a seller is…
Read the full answer →Signing a listing agreement with a realtor is generally a different step than actually selling the home, and a titled spouse can often enter into a…
Read the full answer →These processes are aimed at fundamentally different situations. The Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act is generally used for larger, insolvent…
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