Whether you are a first-time home buyer or an avid investor,
Qureshi Law has streamlined the property purchasing process to fit your lifestyle.
*plus applicable taxes and disbursement fees
Every real estate transaction is unique and involves many steps. At Qureshi Law, we have optimized the purchase workflow to create a seamless experience for our clients. It is especially important for our first-time homebuyers. We always go the extra mile to make sure your interest is protected throughout the whole process.
Make sure to view the property before you prepare and sign the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. If you are working with a Realtor ©, the Agreement will be prepared by your representative. In case you are not using Realtor © services, the Agreement can be prepared by your lawyer.
Once the Agreement of Purchase and Sale is signed by the purchaser and the seller, you can start looking for a lawyer to retain for your purchase. During our onboarding meeting, we discuss every step of the deal to ensure that everything is completed up to your standard.
Your lawyer is responsible for completing a title search to review the status of the property. The search confirms if the seller is the legal owner and if there are any liens or easements on the title. This ensures that you are getting a clean title on the closing date.
In case you require a loan from the bank to finance your purchase, we recommend that you start the process before the property has been secured. It may seem like you have plenty of time to arrange financing but being proactive may save you many sleepless nights.
A week before closing date, we will invite you to a final signing meeting. Beforehand, we will advise you of any information still required from you as well as the total amount of funds required to cover the remainder of the down payment and closing costs.
Whether or not you can exit the agreement depends on the agreement itself. Did you or your realtor include conditions for the benefit of the purchaser in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale? Any condition normally includes a time period which allows the purchaser to rescind the agreement and get their deposit back with no deductions. However, if the agreement became “firm”, meaning all the conditions were either waived or satisfied, there may be monetary consequences to the buyer who would like to exit the agreement because they simply changed their mind.
Land Transfer Tax (LTT) is payable to the government for transfer of interest in real property. The tax is based on the consideration value of the transfer, which for most purchases is the purchase price itself. The tax formula is a sliding scale, meaning that the percentage of tax is different for different property value tiers. Click here to use our LTT calculator.
There are two components to the tax, provincial (Ontario) and municipal (Toronto), which means that if you are buying in Toronto, you are paying double the tax. However, there are also rebates of up to $8,475.00 available for first-time homebuyers.
Use our tool to calculate Land Transfer Tax
When you meet your lawyer for the final signing, come prepared with a cheque in hand. The amount on the cheque will differ significantly for each purchase, however, most of the time it will include the following components:
If you are taking out a mortgage, the total amount that you must bring on closing will be based on the total amount of expenses on your file less the mortgage amount advanced by the lender to your lawyer.
There are two options for people to jointly hold title in a property in Canada, Joint Tenants OR Tenants in Common.
With Joint Tenancy, you and anyone else on the title will hold 100% of the interest in the property jointly, you cannot specify any percentages of interest. In addition, so-called Right of Survivorship applies to you by default. Should any of the title holders pass away, their share will automatically be absorbed by the surviving title holders.
With Tenancy in Common, there is no Right of Survivorship applicable to the title holders. If any one of the owners passes away, their share of the property will go to their next of kin in accordance with their will. In addition, you can specify the percentage of interest held in the property for each party on the title.
Title Insurance protects the owners of the property from a multitude of risks such as title and mortgage fraud, work orders and open building permits, property tax arrears and sometimes even a forced removal from the property due to building code violations.
While not a requirement, Title Insurance can prove to be a valuable tool to add to your owner toolbox. The fee is payable on closing date and the coverage is valid as long as you maintain your interest in the property.
Home or Fire Insurance, as it is sometimes called, is not required when you are purchasing the property without any mortgage financing. If you are borrowing money from a bank, they will want to see a valid Home/Fire Insurance binder from your lawyer. Start working on it early in the process but keep in mind that each mortgage lender has their own Home/Fire Insurance requirements. Contact your lawyer to confirm the particulars that you need to include in your policy.
Click Book Now to complete our onboarding form and to book a meeting with our lawyers.
Suite 255-1099 Kingston Rd,
Pickering, ON L1V 1B5
Monday – Friday
9 am to 5 pm
