Real Estate Litigation Articles

When home buyers or sellers find out too late that they aren’t aware of some of the finer details in their agreement. In the excitement of signing an offer to buy or sell a home or condominium, it’s often tempting to blindly sign the agreement presented by the real...

Pawel Kosicki and Megan Munro found they didn’t, and a judge ruled an individual can’t acquire ownership by encroaching on public land, says Bob Aaron. When Pawel Kosicki and Megan Munro discovered they did not own their back yard, I imagine it spoiled their whole...

Does it make sense for neighbours to spend tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees over what a judge described as an insignificant piece of disputed land along the shared boundary? 81 Pears Avenue and 83 Pears Ave.: Scene of an expensive dispute between...

Case shows using joint ownership as an estate planning tool to avoid the payment of probate when one owner dies is risky, writes Bob Aaron. Should the question of ownership end up in court, legal fees can outstrip the savings on probate. A decision of the Superior...

Door-to-door sales of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment prohibited in Ontario. Judge finds supplier made fraudulent misrepresentations. The experience of Ottawa homeowner Kim Thompson with a company promising energy savings on her heating equipment...

Jeffrey Lem, 61, director of titles, responsible for administering registration of province’s 7.5 million parcels of land, dead at 61. Jeffrey Lem: His job involved making the land registry system work fairly, seamlessly and efficiently. Ontario’s real estate...

Builder tacked on $30,533 in cost increases. Case shows importance of reviewing clauses in proposed purchase agreements, writes Bob Aaron. An itemized list provided to the buyers detailed higher charges for subfloors, masonry, rooftop deck, parapet and lumber. Sayers...

What happens when homes get built in the wrong place? Two cases show the perils of not doing your homework, writes Bob Aaron. I’ve always found it fascinating to see what happens when a builder builds a house on land it doesn’t own. The latest example of this dilemma...

Case suggests certain items of city infrastructure, such as backyard catch basins, can be the property of the homeowner to do with as they please. A decision of the Ontario Superior Court last month has allowed 4,000 Vaughan homeowners to disconnect their homes from...

Anyone these days can generate an emoji, but without ample evidence to confirm the source, its use is neither efficient, nor reliable, says Bob Aaron. Is it possible to buy or sell real estate by attaching an electronic emoji to an agreement? The question arises in...