Condominium balconies or terraces are generally now owned by the unit owner, they are exclusive use common elements owned by the condominium corporation. Any addition, alteration or improvement to the terrace or balcony must be approved by the condominium board.

Recently the Canadian Competition Bureau requested that CREA open up the Canadian real estate market by making the Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”) open to the public and thus allowing for greater public access to market properties.CREA sets the real estate industry’s standards and practices, including setting commissions  of five percent (5%) of a home’s total sale price,

A landlord eager to secure a tenant will often provide the prospective tenant with an offer to lease, also known as an agreement to lease, before having their lawyer draft and provide a final lease on the landlords standard form. While this document is not the final lease it can be binding. An offer to lease is a simpler document containing the five elements of a binding lease: the location of the premises, the term, the

A few months ago my clients came in to sign the builder documents for interim occupancy for their condominium unit which they purchased pre-build as an investment to rent out. My clients told me that that they had contacted the builder to get consent in order to allow them to rent their unit during the interim occupancy period. I advised them that if they do rent their unit during interim occupancy, they will not

I am lucky enough in my practice to handle a fair bit of commercial landlord/tenant disputes.  I find this work challenging and rewarding, primarily because my clients’ interests and needs are real and immediate.  Without fail, the most common problems I need to address are those of Landlords who want to terminate a tenant’s tenancy before the expiry of the lease term.  In this blog entry, I am going to discuss the

When a loan or mortgage is electronically registered against a property by a lender, it is known as a Charge (a Charge is sometimes synonymous with mortgage). The lender is the Chargee and the borrower is the Chargor. The Chargee will provide the Chargor what is commonly known as a set of Standard Charge Terms (“SCT”). SCT are filed with municipal Land Registrars pursuant to the Ontario Land

In the purchase and sale of a property, the most important aspect of the transfer between buyer and seller is making sure that the seller has good title to convey to the purchaser. Not only does this mean that the seller has the legal right to sell the property but importantly that the property is free from encumbrances including but not limited to mortgages, liens, executions, assignments and notices.  Further, you should

Some legal decisions have direct impact on how a company conducts business. The Supreme Court of Canada in Design Services Ltd. v. Canada, [2008] 1 S.C.R. 737, [hereinafter Design Services] held that an owner in a design-build tendering process does not owe a duty of care to subcontractors in the event the contract is awarded to a non-compliant bidder. This decision is significant for a variety of reasons.

You decide to purchase a business– either to consolidate the market, or enter into a new venture. After a hard fought negotiation and many wrinkles in arranging for financing, it’s now time to close the deal and take control of your new expanded enterprise. In some cases, this is where the headache begins.

With mortgage rates at an all time low, many people are choosing to refinance their homes and many first time homebuyers are taking the opportunity to delve into the market. With variable and fixed rates under 5% why wouldn’t they.When refinancing a property the lender will require a lawyer to search title and register a new mortgage in order to make sure that their