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Role of a Real Estate Lawyer
First your solicitor will send you a letter telling you what documents he may need from you. Since you will be paying at least over $1300 for legal services, I think it is important that you know what your attorney will do for you! Below is some detailed information on the role of a real estate attorney and what you need to do when working with your attorney and securing a mortgage. Don’t just wait for a higher attorney to position you on your new purchase, make sure you interview them before your closing date.
Your real estate attorney should advise you of the costs you are likely to incur in connection with the closing procedures, including:
land transfer tax
disbursement
legal fees
property tax
If you bought a new home from a builder, a real estate attorney can give you an educated guess on how much you should budget for “hidden fees”:
Ontario New Home Warranty Enrollment Fee
Hydro and water meter installation charges
charge of fencing
grading deposit fee
many others
If all the terms of the agreement have been met and the offer is firm, then the lawyer proceeds to check the title of the property. Initial searches included:
utility search
property tax search
Building, Zoning & Planning Search
Registered Title Search
Letters are sent by your lawyer:
To all municipal or regional utility departments to confirm that there are no delinquent or outstanding charges
To ensure that there are no conditional sale agreements, easements or unregistered agreements, liens
To ascertain other encumbrances affecting the property or equipment being relinquished by the seller
Easements are a big issue and there are always cases being written about buyers in newspapers and real estate magazines who didn’t realize they weren’t allowed to put up a fence or create a parking space because of the property survey they were working from. It doesn’t actually reflect the city’s rights to access the property. Your attorney’s job is to make sure all of this is disclosed to you. Your attorney will also advise utility departments of your name and scheduled completion date, and request that final meter readings be performed on the completion date so that final bills can be sent to the vendor.
A tax certificate is requested by your attorney to verify the amount of taxes withheld for the current year and to inquire about any dues and delinquent fees for taxes. Your attorney will also write to the building and zoning department to get a full description of zoning bylaws and restrictions and permitted uses (so you’ll know if you’re allowed to operate a business from your home or build a large deck, eg. For). It is important that you send a copy of the survey for the property to your solicitor as soon as possible – if the seller has the survey, I will obtain it for you if it is not already included in the offer documents. If a survey does not exist, let your attorney know so that he or she can advise on how best to protect your interests through title insurance.
Property title search is initiated at the Land Registry Office to ensure that the seller is the rightful owner of the property, has the right to sell the property to you, and is not subject to any encumbrances, encumbrances, easements, liens, covenants or mortgages that were not disclosed in the contract or purchase and sale. You might have heard of fraud cases where people’s houses were sold by fraudsters who had no title to the land! This is where your attorney really earns his fee. This search has to be completed before the Demand Date (Title Search Date) shown on your contract of purchase and sale.
Other important tasks for your attorney include:
Perform an execution search at the appropriate sheriff’s office to make sure there are no executions against prior owners of the property that would affect your title.
Prepare and deliver a letter to the seller’s attorney that any items revealed in the preliminary searches be disposed of at or before closing.
Review the contents of the mortgage commitment letter that your bank will prepare when arranging your financing, and consult with you about the consequences of signing it.
Advise you of any closing-day costs related to mortgage financing when your financial institution provides you with a final mortgage commitment letter.
If your attorney is also acting on behalf of the financial institution (this often is the case), he or she will prepare all the necessary documents for the mortgage and submit this package to the financial institution for approval prior to closing:
– Certify property title to the financial institution at closing.
– Advise you about any government programs designed to assist home buyers that may apply to you, including information on the Land Transfer Tax Rebate Program, the Ontario Home Ownership Savings Plan, the RRSP plan and the CMHC 5% down payment is included.
– Tell your insurance broker the name, address, phone number and fax number of both your attorney and the financial institution that provided your mortgage. Your attorney needs a letter confirming that insurance coverage is in effect at closing – this is extremely important because the bank will not advance $ to close on your purchase unless they know you have property insurance. Is.
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