Sellers do not pay Land Transfer Tax in Ontario. Almost everything else comes out of the proceeds before the balance reaches your account. Knowing the list before you list is the difference between a net number you planned for and one you find out about on closing day.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $1,354.87 taxes included
Real estate commission is normally the largest single deduction. It is negotiated with your brokerage, recorded in the listing agreement, and HST applies on top of it. There is no standard rate fixed by law or by any regulator, so the number in your listing agreement is the number. Read it before you sign, including how it is split and what happens if the deal collapses.
Your mortgage is paid out of the proceeds. The payout figure is more than the balance: it includes interest to the discharge date, an administrative discharge fee, and, if you are breaking a closed term early, a prepayment charge calculated under your own mortgage. That charge is usually the greater of a set number of months' interest or an interest rate differential. Only your lender's payout statement is authoritative.
Legal fees and disbursements come next: our flat charge for the work, plus registration of the discharge, search fees, couriers and software charges billed at cost. A seller's file is lighter than a buyer's — no Land Transfer Tax and no new lender to register — but the discharge, the requisition answers and the statement of adjustments are all real work. Compare on our <a href="/pricing">pricing</a> page.
Then the adjustments, which are less a cost than a settling of accounts as of closing day. They can move the final number in either direction, and they are calculated by your lawyer on the statement of adjustments, which you should see and understand in advance rather than on the morning itself. Our <a href="/selling-a-home-lawyer-ontario">home sale page</a> sets out the whole sequence.
Property tax is the usual one. If you have prepaid the year past your closing date, the buyer credits you for the portion after closing. If you are in arrears, you credit the buyer instead. The same logic applies to condominium common expenses, which are paid monthly and prorated to the day, and to prepaid utility accounts or service contracts that carry over to the new owner.
Fuel is measured, not estimated. On a property heated by oil or propane, the tank is read close to closing and the buyer pays for what is in it at the supplier's current price. Rural properties bring their own list: water testing, septic records, cistern levels, and rented equipment such as water heaters or furnaces that has to be assumed by the buyer or bought out by you.
A tenanted property changes the arithmetic. Rent paid in advance for the closing month is prorated, and the last month's rent deposit, plus the interest the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/06r17">Residential Tenancies Act, 2006</a> requires you to pay on it, is credited to the buyer, because the obligation to return it moves with the property. Get the tenancy paperwork to your lawyer early; reconstructing deposit history late is slow.
Anything you agreed to during the deal shows up here as well: a credit for a repair you promised and did not make, a holdback for work in progress, a rebate negotiated after the inspection. Adjustments are where the loose ends of a negotiation finally get paid for, which is a good reason to keep the agreement's promises specific and dated rather than vague.
Non-residency is the big one. Where the seller is not resident in Canada for tax purposes, the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/">Income Tax Act</a> requires the buyer to withhold a portion of the purchase price until a clearance certificate is issued by the Canada Revenue Agency. That certificate takes months, not weeks. If you are selling from abroad, start the application before you list, because the funds are held back on closing regardless of your plans for them.
HST catches people out on the exceptions. The resale of a used home that has been occupied as a residence is generally not taxed under the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-15/">Excise Tax Act</a>. New or substantially renovated housing, commercial property, some vacant land, and some cottage and hobby-farm situations are treated differently. If any part of your property was used in a business, ask before you assume the sale is exempt.
Secondary registrations have to be cleared as well as the first mortgage. A line of credit secured on the home, a vendor take-back from when you bought, a lien registered by a contractor under the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90c30">Construction Act</a>, a writ from an old judgment, an agency lien: each one has to be discharged out of the proceeds before the buyer can take clear title.
The rest are small individually and add up together: the status certificate on a condominium sale where your agreement makes you pay for it, an updated survey if you agreed to provide one, final utility and common expense accounts, moving costs, and bridge financing if your purchase closes before your sale. Ask for a net proceeds estimate early, then update it when the payout statement lands.
No. Land Transfer Tax is charged to the buyer when the transfer is registered, and Toronto is the only Ontario municipality that adds a municipal land transfer tax on top of the provincial one. It never appears as a seller cost. If you are buying your next home as well, budget for it on that purchase, separately from your sale proceeds.
No. Commission is negotiated between you and your brokerage and recorded in the listing agreement, with HST added. There is no legislated rate. Read how the total is divided between the listing and cooperating brokerages, what happens if you cancel the listing, and whether commission is still owed if a buyer introduced during the listing period comes back afterwards.
It is what your lender charges for breaking a closed mortgage before the end of its term. The calculation sits in your mortgage documents and typically compares a set number of months' interest against an interest rate differential, with the lender taking whichever is higher. Only the lender's written payout statement gives you the real figure, so request it well before closing.
On closing day, once the transfer registers and the buyer's funds are received. Your lawyer pays out the mortgage, the commission and the closing costs from the proceeds, then releases the balance to you by wire or certified cheque. Timing within the day depends on when the buyer's lawyer sends funds, so do not plan anything around an early hour.
Tell your lawyer and your accountant before you list. A non-resident sale triggers a withholding obligation on the buyer's side until a clearance certificate is issued, and the application takes long enough that leaving it until after closing means part of your money sits in trust for months. Start early and plan your next purchase around the delay.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.