Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca December 22, 2007 As if lawyers need extra work Two-lawyer rule for registering deeds is overkill Question: How many lawyers does it take to register a deed transferring the ownership of a parcel of land? Answer: For the past 212 years, the answer has been “one.” Next year, the answer will be […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca December 15, 2007 Document your insured possessions Chubb gets hit with $500,000 in punitive damages It was exactly 10 years ago this weekend that a fire destroyed the luxury house belonging to Bridgette Sagl on Doulton Dr. in Mississauga. When Chubb Insurance refused to pay her claim, she took the company to […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca December 8, 2007 Time to repeal outdated law Statute Labour Act could mean that some Ontario taxpayers must perform road work The owners of a farm in England have been hit with a bill for more than 500,000 ($1 million) by the Church of England as the result of an old law […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca December 1, 2007 ‘Arrogant’ bank chastised by judge Whoever said you can’t fight city hall or the big banks never met Brampton lawyer Ken Hood or his clients Mark and Laura McDonald. When the McDonalds bought their cottage near Kapuskasing some years ago, they took out a personal loan secured by a […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca November 24,2007 We need an open, comprehensive grow-op list Two weeks ago in this column, I asked whether listing agents should be required to disclose that a home was, or might have been, a marijuana grow operation, or whether they should disclose only if the seller tells them it was a grow-op? […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca November 17,2007 ‘Miller bite’ hangover probably won’t drive buyers out of the city Some industry stakeholders are predicting there will be a rush to buy houses in the 905 area code when the new Toronto land transfer tax goes into effect on Feb. 1, 2008. As I see it, buying a home […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca November 10,2007 Is it right for agents to turn a blind eye to signs of grow-op? Fred and Ginger (not their real names, of course) are looking for a Toronto home within their budget. They thought they had found the ideal house in the Kennedy Rd.-Eglinton Ave. area of Scarborough. One of […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca November 3, 2007 Federal tax cut already in effect New homes bought since Oct. 30, 2007 eligible for 5 per cent GST rate While the GST officially won’t drop from 6 per cent to 5 per cent until Jan. 1, 2008, the new rate is already in effect for buyers of newly […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca November 3,2007 Buyer beware if you want that GST rebate With the GST falling again from 6 per cent to 5 per cent buyers of new homes should be warned about a practice some builders have employed to scoop the purchasers’ transitional rebates. May 2, 2006 was the last date when the […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca October 27,2007 New home worthless, assessor rules An interesting decision of the Assessment Review Board last year may be the first Ontario case in which the value of a new home was assessed at zero dollars for tax purposes. As well, it could set a precedent for reducing the assessments and taxes […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca October 20,2007 ‘Effluent society’ can’t afford to flush ‘n’ forget When we flush the toilets in our homes, few of us ever give any thought to the process. It’s a routine motion that banishes waste and ensures cleanliness. Routine, that is, until you realize that for those of us in Toronto the […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca October 13,2007 The worth of an emailed signature lost in legislation Why is it possible to buy and sell real estate by faxing agreements, but not by email? That’s the question asked by Hamilton real estate lawyer Larry Bremner of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. In the latest edition of his newsletter, entitled […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca October 6,2007 It’s best not to combine mortgage, line of credit Beware of loans tied to ‘real’ mortgage After Nathaniel and Danielle signed a contract to buy their Toronto dream home for $450,000, they contacted a mortgage officer at their bank to arrange financing. Their down payment of $115,000 represented more than […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca September 29, 2007 Renovation project calls for a written deal The Ontario Court of Appeal has written the final chapter in what could easily be called the case of the “renovation from hell.” It all began in early 2004 when Arik and Olga Idan hired Maureen Chung and Geoffrey Jackson to renovate […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca September 22, 2007 Be careful when buying homes once heated with oil In March 2004, Arthur and Yvelle Dupere agreed to buy a house in Nova Scotia from Gregory and Joey Evans. Before the contract was signed, there were discussions about the outside oil tank. The sellers disclosed that several years before […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca September 15, 2007 Bench can honour our past, add to community’s future Back in the 1930s, in the days before air conditioning was commonplace, there were few places where Torontonians could go to escape the summer heat. One of the most popular areas for summer recreation activities was Hanlan’s Point, at the […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca September 8, 2007 Signing SPIS form remains a huge risk Whenever I write about Seller Property Information Statements (SPIS), which real estate agents often ask their seller clients to sign, I can always be sure of getting a significant number of email responses. In last month’s issue of REM (Real Estate Magazine), […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca September 1, 2007 Title insurance policies can differ Are all title insurance policies the same? Are the coverages provided by the various title insurance companies so similar that it doesn’t matter which one you choose? These questions arise in the wake of a recent article on title insurance which appeared in the […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca August 25, 2007 Probate not necessary to sell house in most cases After her father died, Penny Wilcox decided to put his home on the market. She was in the process of listing it for sale when her real estate agent said that it could not be sold unless the will was […]
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca August 18, 2007 Relying on municipal records too risky In last week’s column, I wrote about a client of mine who signed an agreement to purchase a property on Burgess Ave., in the Beach neighbourhood. The lot size was advertised as 36 feet by 96 feet, but when I pointed out to […]