2019 Toronto Star Property Law Column

How does an interested buyer know if a home’s basement apartment is legal? And what information about basement apartments must real estate agents provide to buyers?

This past year’s GTA real estate market may become known as the year of aborted transactions.

What’s better for Ontario condominiums and their owners: electronic proxies or electronic voting? And what’s the difference?

I am regularly surprised at how frequently a land survey is viewed as
unnecessary when it could be considered the single most important
document in a real estate transaction.

An easy solution to the problem of owner apathy in condominium buildings, and a simple way to encourage interest and participation, is to introduce electronic voting.

If the city of Toronto was serious about tackling the housing
shortage, why would it charge Toronto homeowners $300,000 to
legalize three bachelor apartments in their house?

When homebuyers discover before closing that the sellers are involved in boundary litigation with their neighbours, are they obliged to close the deal?

There’s nothing like having your property burn to the ground to focus your attention on the need for good property insurance.

In today’s real estate market, it’s not unusual for new home buyers to
find themselves in a dilemma.

Property owner stuck with $25,000 in court costs over cottage’s pre-existing issues

“What could be more Canadian than Toronto neighbours arguing about building an addition on a house?” asked Justice Ed Morgan in one of his decisions released earlier this year. “Homeowners arguing about a maple tree, of course,” he continued.

An Ontario Superior Court decision may change the law of joint land ownership and the right of survivorship when one owner dies.

The duty of a condominium corporation to accommodate disabled residents is highlighted by a decision from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal released earlier this year.

What happens when a real estate transaction closes, the keys and money have been exchanged, and the buyer arrives at his or her new property only to find the seller still there?

Is a homeowner obliged to disclose to a potential purchaser that the house was the site of a gang murder? This was the key issue last month in a decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which reversed a 2018 trial court decision.

Buried in last month’s provincial budget is a measure designed to reduce the cost of obtaining probate — “to provide tax relief for families when they need it most, as the death of a loved one is a difficult time.”

Next month marks the start of cottage season — a good time for a reminder that buying rural property is much different than buying in the city.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has affirmed the obligations of condominium developers to provide buyers with complete and transparent disclosure of a proposed project’s features.

This includes a budget statement which fairly and accurately reveals the costs that purchasers will have to pay in the first year of their ownership.

A court case decided in Bracebridge last month emphasizes the risks of using a Seller Property Information Statement.

It also illuminates the risks of having the same agent act for both the buyer and seller.