Real Estate Litigation Articles

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...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Can dead people sign property deeds? The answer: it depends who you ask about so-called “zombie deeds.” In legal circles, a deed of land signed during the owner’s lifetime but registered after death is known as a zombie deed. Judging by online...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca In these times of economic uncertainty, Canadians who own their own homes may be thinking about protecting them from health risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For most homeowners, their houses and condominiums are their largest single assets....

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca OREA fails its members and the public. The organization representing Ontario’s 70,000 realtors has published four confusing and dangerous COVID-19 clauses for members to consider using in purchase agreements. The Ontario Real Estate Association...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca One of Ontario’s most respected real estate lawyers has sounded the alarm against using untested COVID-19 clauses in property transactions. Sidney Troister is a partner at Toronto’s Torkin Manes LLP, and is widely regarded as one of Ontario’s...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca There is good news and bad news for those of us in the real estate field during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some good news came from Jeffrey Lem, Ontario’s director of titles, in a Law Society webinar late in March. Speaking electronically to several...