Property Law Columns
What is a cash-for-keys agreement between a tenant and a landlord? Should they even be allowed?
When a landlord wants to recover possession of a rental unit without waiting months to get a hearing, such an agreement can be used … or abused. Cash for keys? That’s one way around getting a tenant...
Is that a peeping bureaucrat I see staring into our window? Can we continue living in our storage unit?
Whether there’s an unauthorized dwelling inside a storage building should not be resolved by peering inside, taking pics, judge finds. Appeal court disagrees. A storage unit would seem an unlikely...
What is a ‘road licence agreement’ and do I need to care?
Township of Lake of Bays implemented a requirement for property owners to enter into an expensive road licence agreement. Is this right? Bob Aaron thinks not. Access to Lake of Bays may cost...
Condo troubles: When is an owner so unruly, they just have to leave?
“Unacceptable misbehaviour” of occupant due to “serious long-standing substance abuse illness,” in judge’s words, led condo corporation to try to evict man. Condo trouble: community living can...
When can a shipping container be said to be a home? Trick question
Once you add windows and a door to such a structure, it can no longer be used to ship goods, so it should not be tied to that purpose, Bob Aaron argues. Are shipping containers a solution to...
Can the cops point a video camera at your home without a search warrant? Can a condo owner put a video doorbell on the outside of their unit?
Precedents show that courts can rule differently on matters involving video cameras and residences. Is it a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for the police to point a video...
Smelling pot smoke from your condo neighbours? This online tribunal is ordering people to stop smoking in their units
Body generally exercises its powers to alleviate or eliminate adverse effects of cannabis smoke in Ontario’s condo community. Since the legalization of cannabis, many owners and tenants living in...
The city of Toronto refused to sell this couple the land that makes up their backyard. Now they’re going to the Supreme Court — to claim squatter’s rights
Court rarely hears cases about real estate. Prior owners of property enlarged yard by fencing in a huge piece of public parkland which they didn’t own. The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear...
Is that basement apartment legal? Can you rent it out? You better be sure
Buyer beware! Purchase agreements almost always use what I call weasel terminology to avoid calling a unit illegal. It never fails to amaze me how some agreements of purchase and sale continue to...
When you are leaving your house to your kids never use a will kit!
Ignore the promoters of cheap “legal will kits,” and their fill-in-the-blanks forms! You need a lawyer, or you will end up in court, advises Bob Aaron. When the time comes to make a last will to...
When it comes to buying or selling a house, be aware that deadlines are generally ironclad, legally speaking
Is ‘time of the essence,’ legally speaking, in a residential real estate transaction? Past precedents suggest it is and that deadlines must be adhered to. Virtually every real estate purchase...
Will this actually deter developers from scrapping purchase agreements so they can resell condos at higher prices?
Court case should dissuade developers from cancelling condo sales deals so they can resell the units at higher prices when the price for condos rises. A British Columbia court decision last month...
What’s that doing there? Will it stop me building on my property?
Huge numbers of Ontario property owners, especially in rural areas, may face issue of Hydro poles on their land ostensibly blocking construction plans. What can a property owner do if his property...
What do you do when you are stuck with a pre-construction home or condo?
Petrified buyers facing prospect of being unable to raise cash needed to close, while higher interest rates are making occupancy fees sky-rocket. A common problem today for would-be buyers of...
Who is responsible when buyers lose their deposits on pre-construction houses?
Regulators, government, real estate agents involved, even buyers, themselves, could share responsibility for the whopping losses. When 28 buyers lose a combined $5.4 million in deposits on...
Elderly homeowners fall victim to predators hawking services, equipment
Homeowners don't know notice of security interest is registered on their title. In selling their home, they have to pay it out. A group of Ontario real estate and litigation lawyers has written an...
Don’t count on ruling in favour of basketball star to show real estate purchases can be unwound!
Ruling that failure to disclose safety risk when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, partner bought mansion was fraudulent misrepresentation is not reliable precedent. With all the publicity surrounding the...
When home buyers or sellers find out things about the deal too late
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...
Do you own your backyard? Are you sure?
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...
Was it worth it? Neighbours spend big bucks in dispute over tiny piece of land
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? Donald Milne...
Would you live in a house where there’s been a murder?
When the value of a house is affected by a history of murder, suicide, ghosts, or hauntings, it is generally referred to as stigmatized. Would you live in a house where the dismembered body of the...
Is joint ownership good or bad for estate planning?
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...
Beware of people trying to sell heating and air-conditioning equipment
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...
Ontario loses respected Director of Titles
Jeffrey Lem, 61, director of titles, responsible for administering registration of province’s 7.5 million parcels of land, dead at 61. Ontario’s real estate community suffered a tragic loss on...
Young couple, about to move into their new home, get a big surprise
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...
Is that house where it should be? Are you sure it’s on the correct lot?
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...
What happens when homeowners disconnect their houses from systems designed to stop flooding?
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...
An emoji can’t serve as a signature on a home sale, can it?
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...
Builders trying to squeeze huge extra charges from innocent purchasers may be out of luck
Agreement at centre of case required buyers pay for extra increases in construction costs as sworn to on behalf of builder. The judge wasn’t having it. It has become an unpleasant fact of life in...
Property owner learns a hard lesson on insurance against water damage
Cover for water damage deemed not in place despite daily visits to vacant property. Talk to your broker about any change in risks, says Bob Aaron. A homeowner in Hamilton learned the hard way that...
Oops! Dream home was built, in part, on land owned by neighbours
Case illustrates the vital importance of getting a building location survey, as house is built, in part, on neighbours’ land. What happens if you build part of your dream home on land owned by your...
Noise about pickleball rises in communities across the country
Bob Aaron says justice of the peace found noise caused by pickleball was unreasonable and disturbed inhabitants, and this breached town bylaws. With the warmer weather finally upon us, millions of...
How can you avoid having your home listed on the MLS database?
Despite the new rule, there are ways for home-sellers to avoid being forced to list their property on Multiple Listing Service (MLS), says Bob Aaron. At its annual general meeting last month, the...
Condo board penalized for failing to act reasonably on owner’s renovation request
It failed to consider these fairly, take his concerns seriously, and provide timely responses and decisions during the process, explains Bob Aaron. A Superior Court ruling in November cost a...
Beware of buying homes from builders who don’t own the land
It’s time to change law to protect consumers who buy pre-construction homes from builders who do not own the land they are built on, says Bob Aaron. Gary Howard and Julia Niblett signed an agreement...
How much is a driveway dispute worth, really? Think twice before you sue!
“Why would anyone pursue seemingly hopeless litigation over the right of way to a mutual driveway?” wonders Bob Aaron. This is the story of a $150,000 driveway. Hayley Fromstein and James Albiez own...
When a real estate deal falls through, you should weigh whether litigation is worth it
Why resort to the courts when a transaction involving a sale of a house falls through? This case shows it can be unnecessarily costly, says Bob Aaron. Is it worth taking someone to court over a...
Toronto has another vacant unit tax and it’s complicated, scary
Along comes complicated federal Underused Housing Tax, just as property owners are busy filing returns for the city’s vacant unit tax, says Bob Aaron. As if property owners in Toronto didn’t have...
Toronto’s vacant home tax a surprise, its exemptions confusing
Empty homes face tax of one per cent of provincial assessment, but some do not, writes Bob Aaron. The deadline for declarations has been extended. The City of Toronto vacant home tax has caught many...
Found money in a house? That doesn’t necessarily entitle you to it
Instance of money being found in Bracebridge, Ont., focuses issue of unclaimed property in Ontario. It’s not always finders keepers, says Bob Aaron. When I heard that the Ontario Provincial Police...
Will you have to pay Toronto’s new Vacant Home Tax?
The 1 per cent charge on homes that go unoccupied for more than 6 months of the previous year is still a work in progress, write Bob Aaron. The City of Toronto’s new Vacant Home Tax is now in effect...
Toronto’s vacant home tax looms, and it will have ripples
The new annual tax kicks in on January 1 and home buyers should be vigilant to avoid being on the hook for penalties of up to $10,000. Toronto’s new annual tax on vacant residences kicks in on...
When does a home buyer legally own the property? Sooner than you may think
The old legal principle of ‘equitable conversion’ gives the buyer ownership once both sides have signed the deal, writes Bob Aaron. A compelling situation was raised in a Facebook group for real...
CREA steps back on a controversial new policy about home sale listings
The plan to begin mandatory public listings of homes for sale on Jan. 1 will now be put to a vote at the next annual general meeting, writes Bob Aaron. In the wake of a torrent of negative feedback,...
Expect court challenges to law banning non- Canadians from buying property
Is the new law a genuine effort by Parliament to regulate immigration and citizenship, or a back door attempt to regulate property law, asks Bob Aaron. After January 1, 2023, it will be illegal for...
Why forcing home sellers to publicly list their properties is a bad idea
Many sellers choose exclusive listings because they don’t want their homes’ details and sale prices known, writes Bob Aaron. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has announced a change in its...
A home purchase offer is legally binding once it’s signed
A buyer is obliged to complete the deal whether or not the deposit is paid, writes Bob Aaron. If a buyer has a change of heart after signing a purchase agreement, but before paying the deposit, is...
When pre-construction home buyers face builder demands for more money
Construction problems such as foreseen costs, and shortages of labour and materials, are issues for builders — not purchasers — to resolve, writes Bob Aaron. Just because a builder demands more...
New provincial rules can’t stop pricey surprise fees for new homebuyers
Additional and high closing fees should not be billed to buyers in the final hours before their deals close, writes Bob Aaron. A group of buyers of new townhomes in Mississauga got the shock of...
It can cost you to back out of a purchase
Superior Court orders a buyer to pay over $600,000 to the builder of a Thornhill development where she walked away from her deal. Over the last five years, Ontario’s courts have been busy with...
Superior Court awards condo owner $30,000 in noise ruling
‘This singular issue has been outstanding ... for the better part of 10 to 11 years,’ writes the justice in her decision about garbage room clamour. A case released by the Superior Court last month...
Floor plan review is critical to a condo purchase
Make sure your lawyer confirms the unit you’re buying matches the building plans, writes Bob Aaron. A near disaster in closing 173 units in a new Guelph, Ont. condominium project last week...
Is it time to abandon the metric system in construction and real estate?
Our strange mix of using both Imperial and metric systems is hard to fathom by any measure, writes Bob Aaron. As Britain prepared to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last week, British Prime...
A ‘believe it or not’ home insurance case in Superior Court
Superior Court justice compares events to Ripley’s iconic tagline in his decision on litigation, writes Bob Aaron A court case involving the appraisal of a fire loss on a Toronto home was described...
Budget ’22 may rattle the resale of pre-built condos
Property speculation is targeted in the recent federal budget and has the potential to cause upheaval, writes Bob Aaron. The 2022 federal budget has the potential to create a huge upheaval in the...
Prevent condo cancellations with penalties against builders and better support for buyers
The Ontario government wants public input about how to stop developments from being cancelled. Now’s your chance to speak up, writes Bob Aaron. The issue of condominium project cancellations is the...
A growing and risky trend in pre-construction purchases is raising red flags
Buyers who gamble on flipping their purchase deals may be in financial trouble if the move is denied and they’re forced to close, writes Bob Aaron. Toronto real estate lawyer Mark Morris has raised...
A property survey could have prevented these homeowners from ending up in court
The issue of a garage built partially on a neighbour’s property was resolved under an obscure law, writes Bob Aaron. What happens if you build part of your house, cottage or garage on your...
Judge finds unwise use of smart doorbell in condominium
An Alberta court decision last month provides a useful lesson about how living in a condominium complex requires tolerance — and sometimes the compromise of deeply-held views and principles. Lillian...
A new home speculation tax would harm, not help the real estate market
Home prices would plummet, as they did with the new levy in ’74. I vividly recall that the housing market crashed overnight, writes Bob Aaron. My award for the worst real estate idea of the year —...
Hike in real estate transaction fee sparks lawsuit
The price increase by a software provider has been met with a class action while homebuyers face paying the extra cost. A sudden price increase by a supplier of software programs to real estate...
Social housing was Jon Harstone’s passion
He was a successful advocate of affordable homes in Toronto. And he was part of my family. With the passing of Jon Harstone at age 71 on New Year’s Day, Toronto lost one of its most successful and...
Court supports home buyers after purchase deals cancelled
An Ontario Superior Court justice blocks the resale of pre-construction homes and orders the case to arbitration, writes Bob Aaron. An important decision of the Ontario Superior Court may offer hope...
Courts say it’s on the buyers to confirm a home’s size
Prospective purchasers cannot rely on a published listing when it comes to the interior size of a home, writes Bob Aaron. A decision of Ontario’s Divisional Court serves as a reminder that home...
Purchase conditions make home buying less risky
In April, 2017, the Ontario government introduced a 15 per cent speculation tax on residential real estate purchases by individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents. The tax had an...
A lien on your property title could really cost you
Laurie Stevenson thought she was buying a furnace and air conditioner for $7,335 when she signed a contract with a door-to-door salesman. Across the front of the document, she wrote “Total $7,335 0%...
Bats in the Bedroom Are Not the Home Seller’s Fault, Says a B.C. Court
A fair ruling or is it just downright batty? A colony of bats discovered by purchasers inside their home sparked a dispute that ended in a B.C. court with Judge Judith Doulis pronouncing it “an...
‘The Exorcist’ History of Their House Surprised, Entertained, New Owners
One spooky surprise taught these homeowners an important lesson about disclosure. When Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris were successful with their less-than-asking-price offer on a house in...
Help with bad tenants is on the way for condo owners
Condominium owners who rent out their units without credit and reference checks run the risk of being financially responsible for their tenant’s misbehaviour. Heidi Yee Hui owns a condominium on...
Do you have a licence for your home’s front yard parking?
Last September, a client of mine whom I will call Meghan purchased a beautifully renovated home in Midtown Toronto for a price well above asking. Built in the 1920s on a 30-foot lot, the home came...
Homebuyers get support from Superior Court about pre-closing damages to a property
A Superior Court decision in August provides valuable guidance on how buyers and sellers should act when a property suffers substantial damage before closing. In November, 2019, Sative Yan-Ling Tsui...
A homebuyer should know if they — or their lawyer — will get the title insurance referral fee
When a title insurer pays a referral fee to a lawyer for arranging a policy on a client’s property purchase, who should get the benefit of the fee — the lawyer or the client? For more than 20 years,...
A centuries-old law requiring Ontario landowners to work on local roads is coming off the books
Ontario has finally repealed a law — after a 200-year delay — which even today requires landowners to perform road work for local townships. Two years after the province of Upper Canada was...
The new holiday on September 30 will affect real estate purchase and sale closing dates
Anyone with a scheduled September 30 closing date on their real estate purchase or sale will have to change that date as the result of a new national holiday proclaimed in June. Bill C-5 is an act...
When does a home’s seller really have to move out?
It’s after 5 p.m. on June 30 and the home purchase transaction is complete. The new owner shows up with the keys and deed, only to be utterly shocked that the seller is still in the house — and...
Co-ops and co-ownership are emerging as alternatives to condos
With the rapid increase in the price of condominium units this year, some buyers are turning to co-ops and co-ownerships as an alternative. With the rapid increase in the price of condominium units...
New code of ethics for Ontario home builders is a step forward in protecting buyers
A code of ethics for builders and their staff which comes into force on July 1 has the potential to create a sea change in the marketing of new homes and condominiums. The first in Ontario’s...
Ontario’s courts are asked to step in when condo residents refuse to wear masks in their buildings’ shared areas
Living in a condominium community requires a balancing of the interests of those who live there. But when it comes to residents who refuse to wear masks during a pandemic, the courts have to decide...
Your cottage purchase may not include the property’s shoreline
In the early 19th century, the primary mode of transportation to much of the interior of what is now Ontario was by boat, along our lakes and rivers. When the colonial government provided free land...
Buyer beware: Ontario courts punish home purchasers who default on their offers
In the current chaotic residential real estate market, buyers are frequently submitting offers well in excess of either the listing price or the realistic market value. But transactions like this...
Superior Court lets home sellers keep the $20,000 deposit after the buyers backed away from the signed deal
Can a buyer terminate a transaction and get their deposit back if the published listing significantly overstates the size of a house? A Superior Court decision this past March addressed this...
Quick home flipping piques the interest of the CRA
An interesting case from the Tax Court of Canada last fall explores the issue of how many times a taxpayer can flip personal residences during a short period of time before the government will tax...
Surveys crucial in waterfront purchase
Last month I was asked to review an offer to purchase a $1.2 million waterfront cottage on Lake Simcoe. The experience underscored how important it is, especially in cottage transactions, to...
Personal touches can be ordered removed from condo properties’ common elements
Disputes over the unauthorized use of condominium common elements continue to appear in Ontario courtrooms. One recent case involved Irving and Nancy Kumer, who owned a luxury condominium townhouse...
Check into work orders and permits before you buy
Who is responsible when a home is so defective that it is deemed unsafe to occupy? That was the issue facing John Breen after he purchased a luxury cottage for $710,000 in 1999. The winterized...
Kids, including adopted adult children, can inherit Toronto Islands’ exclusive and restricted homes
Can a 90-year-old man adopt a 58-year-old adult as his son in order to allow the younger one to acquire ownership of his Toronto Island home? That was the question facing Justice Markus Koehnen in...
Who is liable if defects are found after a home inspection?
Can a home inspector avoid legal responsibility if is an exclusion of liability clause in the inspection contract? In February, 2009, Michael Smith retained Terry Gordon, a registered home...
It can be expensive to ignore the strict rules of a property easement
The Ontario Court of Appeal has ordered two Oakville, Ont. homeowners to pay $40,000 in court costs and to remove a swimming pool they had built on top of a utility easement.
New homeowners who discovered hidden troves of cash — and how Canada’s courts decided who got it
Bob Aaron bob@aaron.ca A discovery of $500,000 in cash and gold by Alberta homebuyers as they renovated their house in 2017 was the subject of my column in November...
Size does matter in published listings about properties for sale, says a pivotal new legal ruling
A century of Canadian legal precedents dealing with listings describing homes for sale were reversed late last year by an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that is being seen as one of the year’s most significant real estate law rulings.
Unfair burdens are put on homeowners’ families and heirs by delays at Toronto estates court
When the heirs of a GTA deceased homeowner decide it’s time to sell the property, it typically takes the Ontario estates court many months to rubber-stamp probate documents allowing the sale to proceed.
Do home buyers keep the $500K they discover in their house during renovations?
In his first-year law student text book, “Principles of Property Law,” prof. Bruce Ziff begins a chapter on lost objects with this statement: “The law of finding is not an area of pressing practical concern.”
The pandemic has dramatically changed how home buyers and sellers close their property deals
Anyone who has bought or sold a property since the COVID-19 state of emergency was declared in Ontario last March will have experienced a sea change in how these deals are legally closed.
Would you agree to buy a property that is haunted?
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.
Dispute over a property line fence stirs up a costly battle in Superior Court
Keep your neighbour disputes off the Internet.
Know your commitment about paying a real estate brokerage commission before you sign a listing agreement
Should home sellers have to pay commission on a sale if the transaction doesn’t close?
Refusing to close a property deal can be risky – and expensive
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.
Homebuyers should get clear details about fixtures and appliances — including HVAC — in their property deals
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.
Ensure your home purchase deal includes an inspection immediately before closing
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.
A buyer’s balk over an easement hinges on whether it restricts enjoyment of the property
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?