One of the most important real estate cases of the year was released by the Ontario Court of Appeal this month. It upsets the commonly-held interpretation of joint tenancy, a form of property...

A ruling of the Ontario Superior Court in October serves as a warning to those who would commit mortgage fraud that they will be treated harshly by the justice system. Olga Taraschuk owned a house...

Tarion — Ontario’s consumer protection organization for newly built homes — wants to reduce the amount of deposit protection for buyers of pre-construction freehold homes who fail to register their...

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...

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...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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%...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...