Whether you are buying or selling a home or simply remortgaging you still need a lawyer
who can make the whole experience a pleasant one. Mr. King has practiced real estate law in Oakville for many years and so
has his staff whom you will find very approachable throughout your transaction. Buying a home is a major investment and
you should be looking for a law office that will take away all your concerns, keep you fully informed, protect your interests,
and make the whole experience both pleasant and professional.
Mr.King
will look over your contract. This is particularly important when buying from a builder whether it is a house or a condo.
The contracts are long and contain a lot of fine print. Have Mr. King explain to you the pitfalls and hidden costs. Take for example
a clause that you will be responsibe for levies and developement charges between signing and closing. To sign that without
a cap is tantamount to writing a blank cheque to the builder. Don't sign until every clause in the lengthy document has
been explained. Builder's contracts will usually give you five days to contact a lawyer even after you sign.
Buying a condo? You will need to have the Status Certificate reviewed along with the Condo, Declaration,
By-laws and Budget. You are buying a part of the company that owns the building. You need advice on, not only the rules
and regulations (can you own a pet for instance?), but will you be facing increased monthly fees or a dreaded assessment for
a new roof or other possible repairs in the future? Your lawyer must be able to read financial statements provided with the
Status Certicate to advise you that you are not going to face major increases to your finances.
Selling? It's always a good idea to have a lawyer look over an offer to buy your home before you sign. You want to be
assured there will be no title problems, easement problems, restriction problems. You want to be sure, at least as far as
can be reasonably foreseeable, that you will receive your money on time, with no surprise deductions and with proper adjustments
to recover any prepaid taxes. Our office prides itself that we can do this for you.
Costwise you will find us reasonable. We strongy advise against trying to save $25.00 when your concern should be the tens
or even hundreds of thousands of dollars you are about to invest or receive. It just makes no sense. What you should be looking
for is protection and a no hassle closing. We believe we can give you that. By all means call us for a quote. You will find
us totally in line. If not we are worth it for your peace of mind
This site is fairly new so I am not going to cover the past but as I come across points
from now on that I think may be of some interest I will add them in the future.
LATENT DEFECTS. The roof leaks, the basement floods, the electrical wiring is shot, the futnace is cracked or there
are varmits in the rafters. What are the purchasers rights or what are the Vendors obligations? You will hear many theories.
I will simplify the basic rule for you. If there is a serious defect which would not normally be seen by a purchaser
viewing the house which defect was known to the vendors, then the vendors are liable to repair.
Firsty of all it must be a serious defect. If the frig light doesn't work, don't bother. Remember law suits or even
a complaint letter cost money. Then there is the issue of the Home Inspector. In my opinion, whether
there is one or isn't one is a neutral factor.The basic rule still applies. Could he by looking through the house normally
have seen the defect. The advantage to a buyer is that an inspector has more educated eyes to look for things a buyer
might have missed when looking through the house. Something such a rotting window frames. It does not help the vendors. In
the first place they didn't pay for the inspection so why should they benefit? In the second place they remain still
liable for serious defects which are not readily visible on the inspection which they knew about and didn't disclose.
If they knew and didn't disclose they are going to pay for the repair. The first thing the vendor will say when confronted
is "I didn't know about it." "It (whatever IT is) worked fine when we left." If the complaint is made
right on the day of closing or very shortly thereafter the chances are the vendors knew about it. Judges are aware of that.
The moral is - you had better disclose or be prepared to pay. Caveat Emptor only applies if the defect is visible on
normal inspection and ought to have been obvious.
