Residential Real Estate Purchase

Our fee for a standard purchase of a residential home in Ottawa is $1399 plus Land Transfer Tax, tax certificate and HST, (plus $142.60 for registration fees). This includes disbursements for title insurance, lawyers fees, searches, and our fee for any mortgage arrangements. We will charge extra for registration fees, properties that are out of town, extra mortgages, or any drafting or provision of an Agreement of Purchase and Sale.

PREPARATION OF YOUR FILE

What you do

• Fax Agreement of Purchase and Sale once your offer is accepted, have either your real estate agent or builder sales representative fax the Agreement of Purchase and Sale to our office well before the Title Search date is up (see #8 on your Agreement). Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all conditions to your Agreement are satisfied and waived.
• Arrange mortgage financing, if required, and advise your lender to send all mortgage documents to our office at least 3 weeks before the scheduled closing date, if possible. You must make all arrangements directly with your lender concerning frequency and mode of payment. Remember to discuss with your lender any extra charges they might ask for (ie. CMHC charges, administration fees, appraisal fees).
• Name(s) and Date(s) of Birth - please contact our office to indicate the name(s) and date(s) of birth as you wish to see them appear on you Deed.
• Contact your insurance broker for your fire insurance (this does not apply to condominiums) at least 2 weeks before the scheduled closing date. Have them fax an insurance binder (this is a one page info sheet confirming your policy, etc.) to our office ensuring that the 1st Mortgagee is shown as the institution you are borrowing from (usually the Head Office address not the local Branch).
• Contact your Telephone and/or Cable company a few weeks before closing for setup.
• Contact other utilities. Even though we notify your tax department of the ownership change, we encourage you to contact all of the utilities to supply any information they may need or to arrange special payment programs (i.e. automatic bank withdrawal.)
• Well and/or septic - if you have either of these, you will need to provide us with a water potability certificate and septic certificate for your lender.
• Powers of Attorney - in the event that you will be unavailable to sign your final documents and you wish to designate another party to sign on your behalf.

What we do

• Review Agreement of Purchase and Sale
• Prepare the necessary closing documents including mortgage documents
• Obtain search of title
• Obtain title insurance
• Obtain a tax certificate
• Notify municipal taxes, water, hydro and gas of change of ownership and verify for arrears.
• Meet with you for final signatures
• A final report letter will be given to you at the final appointment or sent by mail within 8 weeks of closing.

APPOINTMENT FOR SIGNATURES AND CLOSING DAY

We generally contact you 3 to 4 days before the closing date to arrange for an appointment to review your file and sign your final documents. This will be the only time we contact you unless there are any major problems or we require additional information. This final appointment will be held 1 or 2 days before your closing day, as the information from all parties involved is usually only complete at this time.

You will meet with a lawyer to sign all pertaining documents. This meeting for signatures will take approximately ½ an hour and all purchasers need to be present.

At some point prior to your appointment, the Legal Assistant dealing with your file will confirm with you the amounts of the additional money that we will require from you. We can only accept certified cheques or bank drafts.   Please send this money to us or bring it with you to your signing. On the day of closing, we will have possession of the keys by 5:00 pm. The actual time varies depending on the following factors:

• the time the lawyer for the Vendor is prepared to close
• the time the mortgage funds arrive at our office (some banks only after 12:00 noon)
• line ups with high volume of closings at the registry office (mid-month and month-end are worse)
• shortage of government staff at the registry office
• traffic for couriers delivering files, keys, etc. to and from the registry office

PICKUP OF KEYS

We will have your keys available for pick-up at our office.   Alternative arrangements such as delivery to you can be made at an added cost.