Agreement of purchase and sale
The written contract between you and the buyer. Ontario's Statute of Frauds requires a sale of land to be in writing and signed to be enforceable.
Read the answer →Bridge financing
A short-term loan from your lender covering the days between a purchase that closes first and a sale that closes later, repaid from the sale proceeds.
Read the answer →Caveat emptor
Buyer beware: the starting rule in Ontario that a buyer takes the property as found, subject to the seller's duty not to hide dangerous latent defects or misrepresent.
Read the answer →Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee
The court's confirmation of who may act for an estate, commonly called probate. The land registry requires it before an estate trustee can transfer a home.
Read the answer →Chattels and fixtures
Fixtures are attached and stay with the house; chattels are movable and go unless the agreement lists them. The list in the offer decides.
Read the answer →Conditional offer
An offer the buyer can withdraw from if a stated condition, such as financing or inspection, is not satisfied or waived by its deadline.
Read the answer →Deposit
Money the buyer pays after acceptance as a show of good faith, held in the listing brokerage's trust account and credited to the price on closing.
Read the answer →Discharge of mortgage
The document the lender registers, after being paid, that removes its charge from title. Your lawyer undertakes to obtain it and follows up.
Read the answer →Firm offer
An offer with no conditions, or one whose conditions have all been waived. Once accepted, neither side can walk away without being in breach.
Read the answer →Holdback
Money kept in a lawyer's trust account on closing until a stated condition is met, such as a repair, a discharge or a tax certificate.
Read the answer →Holdover clause
A listing agreement term that keeps commission payable if you sell, within a set period after the listing ends, to someone introduced during it.
Read the answer →Irrevocable period
The time an offer stays open for acceptance. Once it passes, the offer is dead and cannot be accepted, only re-made.
Read the answer →Latent defect
A problem a reasonable inspection would not reveal. A seller who knows of one that makes the home unsafe or unfit to live in must disclose it.
Read the answer →Matrimonial home
A property a married couple ordinarily occupied as their family residence. Neither spouse may sell or mortgage it without the other's consent, whoever is on title.
Read the answer →N12 notice
The Landlord and Tenant Board form used to end a tenancy because the landlord or a purchaser needs the unit for their own or a family member's residence.
Read the answer →Patent defect
A problem a careful buyer or inspector can see. The seller generally has no duty to point it out, but must not conceal it.
Payout statement
The lender's written figure for what it takes to discharge the mortgage on closing day: principal, interest, any prepayment charge and its fee.
Read the answer →Principal residence exemption
The Income Tax Act rule that shelters the gain on a home you ordinarily lived in from tax, one property per family unit per year. The sale must still be reported.
Read the answer →Requisition
A written objection to title raised by the buyer's lawyer before the requisition date. Your lawyer must answer it, or the buyer may end the deal.
Section 116 certificate
The CRA certificate a non-resident seller obtains so the buyer need not withhold part of the price. Until it arrives, your lawyer holds the withholding in trust.
Read the answer →Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS)
An optional written questionnaire about the property. Once signed, each answer is a representation the buyer can rely on and sue over if false.
Read the answer →Solicitor's undertaking
A lawyer's personal promise to do something after closing, such as register the discharge. Undertakings let a sale close before every loose end is tied.
Read the answer →Statement of adjustments
The closing account that credits and debits the price for taxes, condo fees, rents, deposits and other items settled to the closing date.
Read the answer →Vacant possession
Delivering the home empty of people and belongings on closing. A tenant in place means vacant possession cannot be promised without the Residential Tenancies Act being satisfied.
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