by admin | Feb 23, 2026 | 2026 Toronto Star Property Law Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
An Ontario judge has handed down a record high damages award in a case involving a breach of a single-family residential real estate purchase. In a decision released in December 2025, Justice Paul Sweeny awarded the seller a staggering $2,385,000 representing his...
by admin | Jan 12, 2026 | 2026 Toronto Star Property Law Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
It’s a deep and growing problem: lawyers signing off on affidavits or real estate documents without verifying who is actually behind the screen, Bob Aaron writes. Dreamstime In the post-COVID age of digital signatures and electronic meetings, the click of a mouse has...
by admin | Nov 17, 2025 | 2025 Toronto Star Property Law Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
While virtually every residential resale agreement contains a warranty that the property does not contain any known urea formaldehyde foam insulation, I have almost never seen a contract which refers to radon, an odourless, colourless, tasteless — and deadly — gas...
by admin | Nov 3, 2025 | 2025 Toronto Star Property Law Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
The August ruling in the British Columbia case of Cowichan Tribes v. Canada marks a sea change in real property law and Indigenous rights law in Canada. In a 288,000-word decision, Justice Barbara Young ruled that the Cowichan Tribes hold Aboriginal title to as many...
by admin | Oct 20, 2025 | 2025 Toronto Star Property Law Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
A case decided in the Superior Court of Justice last year contains an important lesson to buyers and sellers: if one party to a contract changes its terms during the negotiations, even slightly, it’s not the same offer anymore. Until both parties sign the exact same...
