1000 plain-language Q&As about real estate. Browse below, or search the whole library.
In Ontario, the power of sale process is governed by rules designed to give a defaulting borrower notice and a meaningful opportunity to redeem — that…
Read the full answer →If a legitimate tenant is occupying a power of sale property, you generally acquire the property subject to that existing tenancy, and you step into…
Read the full answer →Yes. If a power of sale nets less than what you owe — the outstanding mortgage balance plus the lender's costs of enforcement — the lender can sue you…
Read the full answer →Power of sale and foreclosure are both legal remedies available to mortgage lenders in Ontario when a borrower defaults, but they work differently and…
Read the full answer →A pre-consultation meeting is an early meeting between an applicant and municipal planning staff, held before a formal planning application, such as a…
Read the full answer →When you submit a pre-emptive offer before a scheduled offer date, you typically do so under time pressure — which means you may not have done a full…
Read the full answer →Yes, generally. Once you marry and the couple ordinarily occupies the property as their family residence, it becomes a matrimonial home under Ontario's…
Read the full answer →Yes, prepaid condominium maintenance fees are adjusted on the statement of adjustments when buying a resale condo in Ontario. Condo maintenance fees…
Read the full answer →It's possible in principle, but far harder than people assume, and the details matter a lot. What's sometimes called a prescriptive easement can arise…
Read the full answer →Not really. Ontario doesn't have a clean, bright-line statutory presumption stating that a fence built exactly on the boundary automatically belongs…
Read the full answer →A price adjustment clause is a provision commonly found in builder contracts for new homes in Ontario that allows the builder to pass on increases in…
Read the full answer →A buyer might turn to private lender financing when a conventional or CMHC-insured lender cannot approve or fund the purchase in time, or at all, for…
Read the full answer →Access is a fundamental issue in Ontario real estate: a property with no legal road access can be extremely difficult to use, sell, or mortgage. Some…
Read the full answer →Ontario public health guidance generally recommends testing a private well's water at least a few times a year and after any event that could affect…
Read the full answer →Discovering that a current survey places a boundary differently from where you (or your predecessors) assumed it was can raise significant practical…
Read the full answer →A boundary dispute is one of the most common real property conflicts in Ontario. When a neighbour claims ownership of land you believe is yours, the…
Read the full answer →This kind of gap, however short, is exactly why real estate lawyers pay close attention to insurance and risk-of-loss arrangements around closing,…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, property tax bills are issued in two phases each year: an interim bill based on the prior year's taxes, and a final bill once the current…
Read the full answer →Property taxes are not a closing cost in the traditional sense, but they appear as a financial adjustment on your statement of adjustments — a document…
Read the full answer →Generally, yes. Severing a parcel from a working farm creates new, separate legal parcels, and MPAC typically reviews and reassesses the resulting…
Read the full answer →Ontario recognizes two different remedies when a mortgage goes into default: power of sale and foreclosure. Power of sale, which runs under the…
Read the full answer →When a widespread outage affects the electronic registration system many closings rely on, lawyers across the province generally fall back on the same…
Read the full answer →Yes, in this specific area, Ontario's provincial planning framework has directed municipalities to permit additional residential units as-of-right in…
Read the full answer →There generally isn't a single automatic certificate a municipality issues confirming legal non-conforming use status just because a property…
Read the full answer →Ontario's rules for municipal tax sales allow a municipality to proceed by either public tender or public auction, so both methods exist as options…
Read the full answer →Before buying a tenanted property, ask the seller in writing for the current rent and exactly what it includes, whether the tenancy is fixed-term or…
Read the full answer →Yes, you can negotiate a condition requiring the seller to serve the tenant a notice of termination for the purchaser's own use before closing, and…
Read the full answer →The purchase price shown on the statement of adjustments should match the agreed sale price in the agreement of purchase and sale. There should be no…
Read the full answer →Your obligation to complete your purchase is a separate contract from your sale, so the collapse of your sale does not automatically excuse you from…
Read the full answer →Yes, an attorney for property — a person holding a valid power of attorney under Ontario's Substitute Decisions Act — can buy and sell real estate on…
Read the full answer →Financing an entire purpose-built rental building is generally underwritten more like an income-producing asset, with lenders weighing the building's…
Read the full answer →Radon is an odourless, invisible gas that occurs naturally in soil and can seep into a home through foundation cracks and gaps, with levels varying…
Read the full answer →Yes. A mortgage rate hold is tied to a specific expiry date set by your lender when the commitment was issued, and it does not automatically extend…
Read the full answer →Real estate commission is typically the largest single cost for sellers in Ontario. The seller pays commission to their listing agent's brokerage, and…
Read the full answer →Taking possession before your lawyer has confirmed that funds have cleared and registration is complete, or safely arranged through an undertaking,…
Read the full answer →Generally, a realtor engaged to sell a power of sale property is retained by, and owes their representation duties to, the lender that is exercising…
Read the full answer →When a court-appointed receiver sells a property, the sale is typically documented and certified by the receiver as having been carried out under its…
Read the full answer →An "as is, where is" clause means you are agreeing to take the property in its actual physical condition and its actual current legal state at the time…
Read the full answer →This depends significantly on what your specific purchase agreement says, so it is worth clarifying before you close rather than assuming a default…
Read the full answer →A reciprocal easement agreement (REA) is an agreement among the owners of adjoining parcels within a commercial plaza or shopping centre setting out…
Read the full answer →A Record of Site Condition (RSC) is a document filed with Ontario's environment ministry under the Environmental Protection Act that summarizes the…
Read the full answer →In Ontario, some rural and lakeshore properties are zoned for seasonal or recreational use only, which means that the zoning by-law does not permit…
Read the full answer →A formal reference plan is generally needed whenever a boundary agreement, easement, or similar arrangement needs a precise, registrable legal…
Read the full answer →A common way to handle a matrimonial home on separation is for one spouse to keep the property and refinance it to pay the other spouse for their…
Read the full answer →A spouse's right to possession of the matrimonial home under Ontario's Family Law Act exists automatically by law once the couple is married and the…
Read the full answer →If a seller's lawyer registers the transfer before confirming that the buyer's funds have actually cleared into trust, the seller loses much of their…
Read the full answer →Most Ontario real estate closings register electronically through the province's e-reg system rather than on paper, so an outage on closing day is a…
Read the full answer →Ontario lawyers hold client and lender money in a trust account, and their professional obligations mean they generally should not release funds toward…
Read the full answer →Two neighbours who agree an easement is no longer needed can terminate it through a formal release, a written agreement, signed by the party who…
Read the full answer →The first same-day option is usually the least dramatic: an agreed short extension or a gap closing, if both lawyers can identify a narrow, fixable…
Read the full answer →Signing a separation agreement that says one spouse will keep the home doesn't, by itself, update the land registry — the agreement documents what the…
Read the full answer →Yes, an owner can generally request that a municipality repeal a designating bylaw, though the decision to actually remove the designation rests with…
Read the full answer →A renoviction refers to ending a tenancy so that renovations or repairs requiring the unit to be vacant can be carried out, which the Residential…
Read the full answer →When you purchase an income property in Ontario that has existing tenants, rent received by the seller for the period after the closing date must be…
Read the full answer →Rent-geared-to-income arrangements are usually tied to a specific program agreement between a housing provider and a service manager, rather than being…
Read the full answer →No. A change in ownership does not reset the rules around rent increases; the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 governs when and by how much rent can be…
Read the full answer →A rent roll is a schedule, usually prepared by the seller or its property manager, listing each tenant in the building along with their unit, rent…
Read the full answer →No Ontario law requires you to use a real estate agent when making an offer to purchase a home. You can submit an offer as an unrepresented…
Read the full answer →A restrictive covenant is a binding promise registered on title that limits how you can use or develop a property. For example, a covenant might…
Read the full answer →Generally, yes, a refused minor variance application can be resubmitted, though simply reapplying with the same materials and expecting a different…
Read the full answer →There's no single clean statutory rule assigning retaining wall responsibility in Ontario the way the Line Fences Act does for boundary fences, so…
Read the full answer →Rezoning means asking your municipality to change the zoning classification that applies to your property, which determines what uses and structures…
Read the full answer →Yes, in general. Ontario recognizes a basic common-law right of lateral support, meaning your land is entitled to the support it would naturally have…
Read the full answer →A right-of-way (ROW) is a type of easement that gives another party the right to travel across or through a defined portion of your land. Rights-of-way…
Read the full answer →A right of way is a type of easement — a legal right for a third party to use a specific part of your land for a defined purpose. On rural Ontario…
Read the full answer →Ontario has provincial legislation, often called the "right to farm" law, designed to protect established agricultural operations from nuisance-type…
Read the full answer →Unopen road allowances in Ontario are owned by the municipality (or in some areas by the Crown), not by adjacent landowners. If the road allowance has…
Read the full answer →Yes. The federal Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) allows first-time home buyers to withdraw up to $60,000 from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP)…
Read the full answer →Worth clarifying first: the specific rules for land-lease communities and mobile home parks are actually found in Part X of the Residential Tenancies…
Read the full answer →Bordering Crown land means part of your boundary is shared with land the province owns and manages directly, rather than a private neighbour, and that…
Read the full answer →Once closing has occurred, the new owner is generally the one financially responsible for a septic system, including the cost of a full retrofit, since…
Read the full answer →Both wells and septic systems in rural Ontario have to meet minimum separation distances from property lines, from each other, from buildings, and from…
Read the full answer →The standard for whether a condition is "satisfied" depends on how it is drafted. Most residential conditions in Ontario are drafted in the buyer's…
Read the full answer →The standard OREA Agreement of Purchase and Sale form has a Schedule B section for additional terms and conditions that the parties wish to include…
Read the full answer →It can, if the family genuinely and ordinarily occupies it as a residence, not just as an occasional vacation stop. Ontario's Family Law Act defines a…
Read the full answer →Technically, since the seller may still be the registered owner during the gap before final registration, a new encumbrance is not physically…
Read the full answer →When a first mortgagee properly exercises power of sale under the Mortgages Act, a completed sale is generally intended to pass title to the buyer free…
Read the full answer →Ontario's provincial planning framework has moved toward supporting additional residential units, including secondary units within a home and separate…
Read the full answer →A clearance certificate is a document a non-resident seller applies for from the Canada Revenue Agency, under the Income Tax Act's rules for…
Read the full answer →Under Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act, landlords can collect a last month's rent deposit from tenants but cannot collect a separate security…
Read the full answer →A seller who fails to sign the necessary documents is generally in breach of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, since completing the sale on the…
Read the full answer →If a seller represented that a unit was vacant when it was not, and you relied on that in deciding to proceed with the purchase, you may have a claim…
Read the full answer →Your lawyer will typically try multiple channels to reach the seller's lawyer, including calling the firm directly rather than relying only on the…
Read the full answer →This is one of the most common closing-day timing gaps, and Ontario lawyers have a well-established way of handling it: the seller's lawyer gives an…
Read the full answer →Generally, no. Non-profit housing co-ops are structured so that members don't build up or sell equity in the underlying real estate the way an owner of…
Read the full answer →Before a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee Without a Will is issued, no one has confirmed legal authority to sell real property that…
Read the full answer →When two or more beneficiaries inherit a property together — typically as tenants in common through an estate — each becomes a co-owner with equal…
Read the full answer →Not arbitrarily. When you sell a home in a land-lease community, the site lease has to be assigned to your buyer, since they'll become the new tenant…
Read the full answer →Not strictly, as between the spouses themselves — a properly signed separation agreement is generally binding on the spouses who agreed to it…
Read the full answer →Septic system approval and a Record of Site Condition address entirely different things, even though both can come up in rural property due diligence.…
Read the full answer →As the new owner, you generally become responsible for repairing or replacing a failed septic system once you own the property, regardless of when the…
Read the full answer →Yes, absolutely. When buying a rural property in Ontario that relies on a private well for water supply and a septic system for wastewater, including…
Read the full answer →These are two distinct planning approvals in Ontario, each addressing a different kind of departure from the established rules. A severance (formally,…
Read the full answer →Severing a commercial lot into two or more separate parcels generally requires a consent from the local committee of adjustment, or for larger or more…
Read the full answer →As a general property law matter, a joint tenant can often sever a joint tenancy unilaterally, without the other owner's knowledge or agreement,…
Read the full answer →No. When you join a non-profit housing co-op in Ontario, you are buying a membership in the co-op corporation, not title to real property. The co-op…
Read the full answer →In a share sale, the buyer acquires the shares of the corporation that owns the real property. The property itself stays titled to that same company,…
Read the full answer →It depends first and foremost on what the registered easement agreement actually says. A well-drafted shared driveway easement should specify exactly…
Read the full answer →A shared well easement agreement should cover more ground than simply granting access to draw water. It should set out each party's specific right to…
Read the full answer →Liability for contamination in a shared well system serving several Ontario properties depends heavily on how the arrangement is set up, which is why a…
Read the full answer →Links go to the official consolidated text. Legislation changes — confirm you are reading the current version.
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