Real Estate Litigation Articles

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Young ghosts and goblins may be imagining the hauntings that have happened in their homes this Hallowe’en. For home buyers, the possibility of purchasing a residence associated with a haunting — or other dark event — can be a true nightmare....

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Keep your neighbour disputes off the Internet. A decision from Superior Court in May provides a compelling lesson about why disputing neighbours should keep their differences off the internet. The case ended with a $70,000 judgment against an...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Should home sellers have to pay commission on a sale if the transaction doesn’t close? The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), an industry group representing realtors, thinks so. It publishes the listing agreement which is used in virtually...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Refusing to close a deal for the unconditional sale of a home in a rising market is never a good idea. It can lead to expensive consequences. That’s what happened in Brampton back in March, 2016. Okey Eze owned a property on Lonetree Ct. He...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca When homeowners agree to sell but neglect to note the property’s heating and cooling system is rented, chances are they will eventually have to buy out the rental contract. That’s what happened in October, 2016, when Edward Yip agreed to buy a...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca It’s the night before closing, the seller has moved out and the buyer wants to do a last-minute inspection to ensure there’s been no damage since the last visit. Is she or he entitled to a day-of-closing inspection if there is no clause in the...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Can a buyer ever back out of a purchase on the basis of registered easements that entitle third parties to particular rights on the land? My last column dealt with two recent cases where buyers refused to close their deals because there were...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Fighting failed real estate deals in court can be futile — and expensive — as shown by the verdicts in two recent Ontario cases. In February, 2020, Mohammad Jafar Haghollahi and Parvaneh Yaghoubi signed an agreement to buy a property on Lockwood...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca A buyer of a pre-construction townhouse in Markham found out the hard way what can happen if the property is resold before its closing date and without the builder’s permission. Virtually every Agreement of Purchase and Sale for a pre-built home...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca How should a condominium board act when it receives complaints about a resident smoking in his unit? That was the issue in a decision of the Ontario Superior Court released earlier this year. The case concerns the conduct of a condo corporation...