Real Estate Litigation Articles
Personal touches can be ordered removed from condo properties’ common elements
Disputes over the unauthorized use of condominium common elements continue to appear in Ontario courtrooms. One recent case involved Irving and Nancy Kumer, who owned a luxury condominium townhouse on Lower Village Gate, near Spadina Rd. and St. Clair Ave. W., in...
Check into work orders and permits before you buy
Who is responsible when a home is so defective that it is deemed unsafe to occupy? That was the issue facing John Breen after he purchased a luxury cottage for $710,000 in 1999. The winterized cottage was 5,000 square feet on 15 acres with six bedrooms, 4-1/2...
Kids, including adopted adult children, can inherit Toronto Islands’ exclusive and restricted homes
Can a 90-year-old man adopt a 58-year-old adult as his son in order to allow the younger one to acquire ownership of his Toronto Island home? That was the question facing Justice Markus Koehnen in an application brought by the Toronto Islands Community Trust Corp....
Who is liable if defects are found after a home inspection?
Can a home inspector avoid legal responsibility if is an exclusion of liability clause in the inspection contract? In February, 2009, Michael Smith retained Terry Gordon, a registered home inspector, to inspect a house for sale in Dartmouth, N.S. Gordon presented...
It can be expensive to ignore the strict rules of a property easement
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered two Oakville, Ont. homeowners to pay $40,000 in court costs and to remove a swimming pool they had built on top of a utility easement. The easement, in favour of the town of Oakville and Oakville Hydro,...
New homeowners who discovered hidden troves of cash — and how Canada’s courts decided who got it
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca A discovery of $500,000 in cash and gold by Alberta homebuyers as they renovated their house in 2017 was the subject of my column in November https://www.aaron.ca/do-home-buyers-keep-the-500k-they-discover-in-their-house-during-renovations/. A...
Size does matter in published listings about properties for sale, says a pivotal new legal ruling
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca A century of Canadian legal precedents dealing with listings describing homes for sale were reversed late last year by an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that is being seen as one of the year’s most significant real estate law rulings. The case...
Unfair burdens are put on homeowners’ families and heirs by delays at Toronto estates court
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca When the heirs of a GTA deceased homeowner decide it’s time to sell the property, it typically takes the Ontario estates court many months to rubber-stamp probate documents allowing the sale to proceed. This delay is causing significant hardship...
Do home buyers keep the $500K they discover in their house during renovations?
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca In his first-year law student text book, “Principles of Property Law,” prof. Bruce Ziff begins a chapter on lost objects with this statement: “The law of finding is not an area of pressing practical concern.” I was reminded of this comment when...
The pandemic has dramatically changed how home buyers and sellers close their property deals
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Anyone who has bought or sold a property since the COVID-19 state of emergency was declared in Ontario last March will have experienced a sea change in how these deals are legally closed. Prior to the pandemic, buyers and sellers of houses and...
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