When Is Your Deposit Due After an Accepted Offer in Ontario?

Once an Agreement of Purchase and Sale is signed and accepted in Ontario, one of the first legal deadlines you'll face isn't closing day — it's your deposit deadline. Missing it can put your entire deal at risk, so it's worth understanding exactly how deposit timing works before you make an offer.

The short answer is: there is no single, fixed deadline set by law. Deposit timing is a term of your specific Agreement of Purchase and Sale, negotiated — or simply accepted — as part of the offer. That makes reading this clause carefully, and knowing what "delivery" actually requires, essential.

Deposit Timing Is a Contract Term, Not a Statutory Rule

Standard Ontario offer forms include a specific clause identifying when the deposit must be delivered, commonly expressed as a number of business days after the offer is accepted. Because this is negotiated between the parties and varies by agreement, sellers and buyers — through their agents or lawyers — can set a shorter or longer window depending on the deal. There is no province-wide standard that applies automatically. Always confirm the exact deadline written into your own agreement rather than assuming a general rule, and verify the current wording of your specific offer with your agent or lawyer.

What "Delivering" the Deposit Actually Requires

Meeting the deadline generally means the deposit funds, or a certified deposit instrument such as a bank draft or certified cheque, are actually received by the party or account named in the agreement — typically a brokerage's trust account or a lawyer's trust account — by the specified time, not simply that you've initiated a transfer. A few practical points:

• Certified funds are usually expected. Many agreements require a bank draft or certified cheque rather than a personal cheque, precisely because personal cheques can bounce.
• "Days" usually means business days, but confirm this in your specific agreement — weekends and statutory holidays can shift a deadline.
• Wire transfers and e-transfers take processing time. Don't assume same-day delivery; build in a buffer before the deadline.

A Typical Deposit Timeline

1. Offer is accepted — the agreement becomes binding, subject to any conditions.
2. The deposit deadline clock starts, as defined in your specific agreement.
3. You deliver certified funds to the brokerage's or lawyer's trust account named in the agreement.
4. The trust account holder confirms receipt, and the deposit is held until closing, or until the deal is otherwise resolved, at which point its disposition depends on the agreement and, if disputed, may require the parties' mutual agreement or a court order.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Missing a deposit deadline is treated seriously, because the deposit is often seen as evidence of a buyer's good-faith commitment to the deal. Depending on the wording of your specific agreement, consequences can include the seller treating the failure as a breach of the agreement and pursuing remedies available under the contract, potentially including termination of the deal and a claim for damages. Outcomes vary with the specific facts and agreement wording — this isn't automatic in every case, and a lawyer should be consulted immediately if a deposit deadline is at risk of being missed.

Deposit Timing vs. Other Offer Deadlines

It's easy to confuse your deposit deadline with other dates in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale, such as the deadline for satisfying a financing or inspection condition, or your closing date itself. These are separate clauses, and meeting one doesn't automatically extend or excuse another:

• The deposit deadline is about delivering the funds themselves, regardless of whether your conditions are still open.
• Condition deadlines — financing, inspection, and similar clauses — are about confirming whether you're proceeding with the purchase at all.
• The closing date is when the transaction actually completes and ownership transfers.

Because these deadlines can fall close together on a fast-moving offer, it's worth asking your agent or lawyer to walk through every date in your specific agreement before you sign, rather than assuming they line up in a particular order.

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