Real Estate Litigation Articles

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca The Great SPIS Myth It's time to reveal The Great SPIS Myth the prevailing fiction about the Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS), a disclosure form published by the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA). Although its use is endorsed...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca With the proclamation of the Green Energy Act, 2009, Ontario has moved one step closer to requiring mandatory energy audits on the sale of residential properties. Section 3 of the new legislation is the only part of the law that has not yet...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Just how much privacy can a person expect in the comfort of his or her own home, free from any government intrusion? That was the question considered in August by a three-judge panel of the Alberta Court of Appeal. The case involved the home of...

Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca Terry is a 23-year-old public servant, having recently graduated with a bachelor of commerce degree. He is ready to buy his first home, and came to my office last month to review a 33-page offer prepared by the builder of the condominium tower...