At Levy Zavet we pride ourselves on knowing all that it takes to manage and operate a Mortgage Investment Corporation. As one of the pioneers in this industry, the lawyers at Levy Zavet can assist you with:
- Preparing your initial Offering Memorandum, Subscription Agreement and business plan to provide your investors and shareholders.
- Navigating through the intricacies of completing a subscription agreement, the exemption from prospectus certificates and acknowledgements, the know your client (KYC) and know your product (KYP) forms.
- Completing your exempt distribution reports and filing them with the securities commissions and regulators in a timely manner.
- Issuing shares to shareholders, updating the required corporate resolutions, registers and ledgers, as well as delivering the share certificates.
- Completing corporate matters including acquisitions and amalgamations.
- Regulatory changes and updating the offering memorandum, subscription agreement, exemption forms and certificates and any other requirements of matters of compliance.
- Operational matters such as investing in mortgage portfolios and lending on mortgages secured against residential and commercial real estate.
- Underwriting simple and complex mortgage loans taking into consideration the lending parameters of the MIC and the needs of the borrower balanced between their ability to pay and the collateral available to secure against.
- Putting together the deal terms of co-lending arrangements and drafting inter-lender agreements in a syndication or prioritized lending consortium.
- Closing your mortgage loan transactions, including drafting the required security documents, completing title and off title searches, and advising on any further inquiries on the borrowers, guarantors and collateral.
- Demanding payment, collecting arrears, enforcing the mortgages and any remedies available under the security documents and Mortgages Act, including power of sales and foreclosures.
November 2023
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November 21, 2023
Example letter to shareholders on deferring dividends from your MIC until year-end
This letter is to inform you that we are deferring the regularly scheduled dividend until the financials for the year end are completed and audited, which we expect to be on or around {date}, in ...Read Post November 2022
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November 12, 2022
Can a lawyer act for both the lender and borrower?
In most conventional cases where the mortgage is not a “private” mortgage or loan transaction, there are no hard rules rather than good judgement and a lawyer’s duty to ensure that both the lender ...
Read Post August 2022
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August 9, 2022
What to Know About Buying a Foreclosed Home in Ontario?
When you’re looking to buy a home, you may often come across a home for sale that is under foreclosure. These properties are usually identified by being listed at a significantly lower price than ...
Read Post February 2021
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February 12, 2021
How to rely on the available exemptions in the Province of Ontario from the requirements to be licensed under the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act.
In Ontario, Dealing, Trading, Lending and Administering mortgages are all regulated activities, which requires licensing under the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act (the “Act”), ...
Read Post May 2020
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May 9, 2020
Registering a Notice to try and save a Power of Sale
Often, borrowers loosing their home to a power of sale will take any advise they can get to stop the process. Borrowers are sometimes led to believe that if you register something on title to the ...
Read Post March 2020
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March 16, 2020
Meeting your legal needs during Covid-19
At Levy Zavet, the health and safety of our clients and staff is our top priority. During this time, we are monitoring the COVID-19 situation as more important information is being released, and ...
Read Post February 2020
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February 11, 2020
Private Lending: Do not Rely on Someone Else’s Appraisal!
Often private lenders will receive a brief term sheet with an email introduction from a mortgage broker or agent trying to place a mortgage deal. Included in this email package may be an appraisal ...
Read Post October 2019
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October 25, 2019
Do Private Lenders need a brokerage license to lend in Ontario?
The Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act, 2006, requires that a mortgage lender hold a brokerage license in Ontario. And that a person or entity is a mortgage lender in Ontario when ...
Read Post March 2018
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March 30, 2018
Changes to the Mortgage Syndication Rules
As of July 1, 2018, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) will begin enforcing the changes to the O. Regulation 188/08 Mortgage Brokerages Standards of Practice under the Mortgage ...
Read Post September 2017
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September 20, 2017
A MIC’s Specified Shareholder, Related Parties and Prohibited RRSP Investment Rules
The Question being asked; is a brother or sister a related person of a shareholder in a mortgage investment corporation (MIC) for purposes of being a specified shareholder? To qualify as a MIC for ...
Read Post July 2017
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July 25, 2017
MIC Foreign Investors & Withholding Taxes on Dividends
The Quick and Simple is that Yes, withholding taxes (usually 25% of gross amount unless subject to a tax treaty with the resident country of the payee) do apply on Dividends paid out by a Mortgage ...Read Post -
July 24, 2017
Islamic Financing and Riba Free Mortgages
Over the last few years, and especially since the financial crisis of 2008, the concept of Islamic financing or banking has been gaining momentum as an alternative financial model for lending and ...
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July 9, 2017
Challenges in Starting a MIC: Paying Dividends
One of the biggest challenges in running a MIC is when you first realize that the investors who were once your private lenders are now expecting the equivalent of their monthly interest cheques ...
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July 7, 2017
A MIC does not simply allow you to raise money from the public!
Mortgage Investment Corporations (“MICs”) are on the rise in Canada. With many of these MICs the founders and managers are confused over what regulators may or may not govern certain aspects of ...
Read Post May 2017
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May 4, 2017
What happens when Home Trust now needs to borrow money to advance you a mortgage loan?
What do you do when your mortgage lender now has to pay a higher interest rate to their own lender on the money they loaned to you?
Home Trust in crisis!
“Home Trust would be required to pay a ...
Read Post May 2016
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May 13, 2016
Can a borrower redeem their mortgage under power of sale?
The answer to this question is constantly evolving, with new and conflicting case law addressing specific facts released almost yearly. The old adage of being able to redeem your mortgage (payout ...
Read Post January 2015
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January 13, 2015
Annual Maintenance and Reporting Requirements of a MIC, a Mortgage Investment Corporation
Annually a MIC that issues its shares through a prospectus and registration exemption under securities law and regulations (e.g. not publicly traded companies), will be responsible for providing ...
Read Post December 2014
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December 23, 2014
What If A Mortgage Goes Bad In A MIC? What are the Investment Benefits In A MIC?
Management of the MIC must be vigilant and selective with whom they lend to, and investors can inquire about whether the MIC in question will allow investments within various percentage brackets ...
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December 23, 2014
Securities Law & Regulations of a MIC, a Mortgage Investment Corporation
A “Trade” (i.e. selling shares to investors in this case) triggers the “Registration” requirement, even if the trade is not a “distribution”. Just because there is not a prospectus ...
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December 23, 2014
Taxation of a MIC, a Mortgage Investment Corporation
The MIC itself will not pay income tax so long as the profits are flowed through to the shareholders and taxed in their hands. This is advantageous to an investor who has purchased MIC shares ...
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December 23, 2014
Managing A MIC, a Mortgage Investment Corporation
The creation of a MIC is similar to other corporations in the method of organization, election of directors/officers and the faculty to appoint committees, hire employees, and issue ...
Read Post October 2014
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October 31, 2014
Jeff Levy, Managing Partner at Levy Zavet Lawyers, My Business Magazine
Read Post
Managing Partner at Levy Zavet Lawyers
June 2014
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June 19, 2014
How to be a Private Mortgage Lender
This video is an excerpt of an interview with Jeff Levy, the managing partner at Levy Zavet PC, Lawyers. The interview is about lending and private mortgages. As well as the most basic tips on how ...
Read Post January 2014
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January 28, 2014
MICs: The Technical Aspects of a Mortgage Investment Corporation
TYPE OF ENTITY FOR A MORTGAGE INVESTMENT CORPORATION
- A Canadian Corporation throughout the taxation year where its business only undertakes to invest its funds, and thereafter qualifies as a MIC, ...
