Will cheaper access to justice mean more litigation?

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...

Will kits can create recipe for disaster

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...

Court ruling rattles home inspectors

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...

Putting property in children’s names is risky

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...

Buyers hit with big bills for surprise adjustments

by admin | Nov 7, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca As many as 244 purchasers received a nasty surprise at the end of September when they got hit with thousands of dollars in “fictitious” charges on final closing of their new condominium units. The development in question is a 244-unit...

Rules on terminating a deal all over the map

by admin | Oct 31, 2009 | 2009 Toronto Star Columns, Toronto Star Property Law Columns

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Can a buyer refuse to close the purchase of a new home if there are deficiencies in construction, forgotten or incomplete items, or unauthorized changes to the design, layout or materials? That question was the subject of a paper presented to a...