Real Estate Litigation Articles

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca If the city of Toronto was serious about tackling the housing shortage, why would it charge Toronto homeowners $300,000 to legalize three bachelor apartments in their house? Patrick and Susan own a three-storey home in central Toronto. In 2001,...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca When homebuyers discover before closing that the sellers are involved in boundary litigation with their neighbours, are they obliged to close the deal? And when buyers discover that the land being purchased is smaller on paper than it appears on...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca There’s nothing like having your property burn to the ground to focus your attention on the need for good property insurance. Three years ago, my business partners Ben and Jill, and my wife Dorothy and I, purchased a $230,000 triplex in a small...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca In today’s real estate market, it’s not unusual for new home buyers to find themselves in a dilemma. One situation can be that the value of the pre-construction house drops below the contract purchase price, and they cannot get enough mortgage...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Property owner stuck with $25,000 in court costs over cottage’s pre-existing issues Will a title insurance policy protect a buyer when the house has a serious construction deficiency making it unsafe and unmarketable to a future buyer? That was...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca “What could be more Canadian than Toronto neighbours arguing about building an addition on a house?” asked Justice Ed Morgan in one of his decisions released earlier this year. “Homeowners arguing about a maple tree, of course,” he continued....

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca An Ontario Superior Court decision may change the law of joint land ownership and the right of survivorship when one owner dies. Going back hundreds of years, the common-law rule has always seen the survivor of the joint owners — “joint tenants”...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca The duty of a condominium corporation to accommodate disabled residents is highlighted by a decision from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal released earlier this year. Frederico Polito moved into a condominium on Emmett Ave., in Toronto, in...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca A celebration walk is set for tomorrow — June 23 — to dedicate eight newly-named laneways in the Palmerston/Little Italy area. My personal favourite is the new Wayne and Shuster Lane, celebrating the famous comedians whose names were household...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca What happens when a real estate transaction closes, the keys and money have been exchanged, and the buyer arrives at his or her new property only to find the seller still there? Last month this happened to a client of mine on the purchase of a...