by admin | Dec 26, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Last week’s column told the story of the illegal chimney on a north Toronto bungalow owned by Ruta Benjamin and her husband. When the house next door to the Benjamins’ was torn down in 2007 and a monster home erected in its place, the...
by admin | Dec 19, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Ruta Benjamin and her husband were sitting in their house, minding their own business, when they suddenly found themselves in violation of regulations of the Technical Standards and Safety Authority without doing anything wrong. They live near...
by admin | Dec 12, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca With less than a month to go, the Ontario court system is in for one of its biggest shake-ups in recent memory. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the monetary jurisdiction of the Ontario Small Claims Court jumps from $10,000 to $25,000, and new...
by admin | Nov 28, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
Whatever money Pauline Rudling saved by using a will kit instead of a lawyer to prepare her last will and testament was spent hundreds of times over on legal fees so that a judge could figure out what she meant. Shortly before she died in January 2003, Pauline Rudling...
by admin | Nov 21, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
The home inspection industry in Canada may never be the same again following the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court last week in the case of Salgado v. Toth*. Back in September 2006, Manuel Salgado and Nora Calcaneo signed an agreement to buy a house in...
by admin | Nov 14, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns
There’s a common misconception that the best way to avoid Ontario’s 1.5 per cent probate fees on the value of an estate is to place the family home and other assets into joint ownership with a child or children, so that the property will automatically transfer to the...
