Instruct your real estate agent to forward by fax (519-578-1168), or email, a copy of your Agreement of Purchase and Sale and any other documents that are required by the terms of the Agreement (i.e.: survey of the subject property, if the agent has entered it into your Agreement, etc.). If in fact you have not signed the Agreement of Purchase and Sale and wish us to review same prior to finalizing or submitting it through the real estate agent, we will gladly review such Agreement at no extra legal charge or cost from our offices. Upon receipt and review of your Agreement, we will contact you by phone to confirm that we are opening a file on your behalf and to confirm your mailing address or fax number at which point in time we will send you our standard introductory letter.
Kindly deliver to our offices by fax, mail or personal delivery (our receptionist can make extra copies for you at no cost if you are bringing originals) as soon as possible. These documents will include any documents that you received from any previous lawyer who acted for you when you purchased your property and will include the following:
Copy of your Transfer/Deed (this is your ownership document);
Copy of any Charge/Mortgages that are registered on title against your property including the name of the mortgage company, their address and telephone number and your mortgage account/reference number (in that regard you should receive a mortgage statement at the beginning of each year and we would ask you to provide us a copy of your most recent mortgage statement, even if your statement is not current we will still require same as it will have important information regarding your mortgage that will assist us in requesting the appropriate discharge documentation from your mortgage company);
Your most current realty tax bills, including any bill requiring future payment, received prior to closing and including the total amount of property taxes paid for the prior and current year. In such case that your property taxes are being paid through your mortgage company, kindly confirm the monthly payments and the last payment made and kindly provide the aforementioned property tax bills;
Copy of survey if available.
Kindly provide us with your forwarding address and phone numbers that you will be using after the closing of the sale of your property.
It is your responsibility to contact all utility services, cable TV, telephone services, etc. including water, hydro, gas, Rogers if applicable, Bell Canada if applicable.
Please advise the utility services of your new address so that they may forward the final utility bills to you. It is your responsibility to pay such final bills and when you contact the utility providers they will make arrangements for final meter readings with you. Such meter readings will be read on the date for closing so that you will only be responsible for such accounts up to the date of closing. If you fail to make such arrangements, then any bills after closing may be attributed back to you even though the new owner is using such utilities. Please make arrangements with Cable and Bell to have have your services disconnected and arrange for final bills. If the residence being sold by you is heated by oil you must inform us in writing and arrange to fill the fuel oil tank as of the date of closing and to pay the cost of filling the tank at that time. The final fill receipt should be given to our offices when signing your final documents prior to closing. At the time of closing we will finalize our Statement of Adjustments which will show a credit to you for filling the fuel oil tank. If a full tank receipt is not provided a dispute might arise as to the actual amount of fuel oil in the tank on closing or alternatively you may not be credited for such fuel oil in the tank. By filling the tank on closing any disputes can be avoided and we will be able to provide you with the appropriate credit/adjustment at closing (i.e.: we will ensure that the purchaser makes credit payment towards you for fuel in the tank).
If you are considering completing the sale of your property by way of appointing someone as your Power of Attorney authorizing such person to sign all closing documents on your behalf, please be advised that all sale proceeds will still be payable only to the registered owner/vendor unless written arrangements and proper identification, satisfactory to our offices, has been made with the registered owner/vendor prior to the closing of the transaction. Power of Attorney documents must be arranged well before closing and we would be please to prepare such Power of Attorney on your behalf.
In terms of a non-resident of Canada (kindly call our offices for a definition of same pursuant to the Income Tax Act of Canada) please contact our office immediately upon endorsing your Agreement of Purchase and Sale so that we may discuss the appropriate procedures for processing a sale by a non-resident.
In terms of final adjustments on your behalf it is imperative that you realize that any property taxes, condominium common expenses or final mortgage payments due and owing, including on the date of closing, must be paid by you up to the date of closing. Any necessary adjustments will be made by our offices on closing for any pre-paid payments or final mortgage payments that cover the time period and similarly we will co-operate with the purchasers lawyer to ensure that the Adjustments are transacted accordingly. In terms of any pre-authorized chequing plans with either the City tax department or your mortgage company, it is your responsibility as the vendor to make certain that such pre-authorized
chequing plans or post-dated cheque plans are stopped in accordance with the closing date (most will require at least 30 days notice). Again we would remind you that any payments falling due on the closing date should be processed according to the mortgage company and its discharge provisions.
On the closing date we will make our best efforts to close your transaction as soon as possible. Your transaction will only close at an early time with the co-operation of the solicitor for the purchaser as it takes two parties to close in an appropriate fashion. Rest assured we will make our best efforts to close your transaction as early as possible on the closing date but would remind you that the standard OREA Agreement of Purchase and Sale form calls for the Agreement of Purchase and Sale to be completed no later than 6:00 p.m. In our experience most transactions are closed by early afternoon on the date of closing or earlier. At any time on the date of closing you are free to call our offices to request information as to the status and timing of the closing of your transaction. Upon closing we will contact you to advise you to attend at our offices to pick up your certified cheque for the balance of the proceeds together with your final reporting documentation. In such case that we are having a busy day or week of transactions, your final reporting documentation may follow approximately a week later by ordinary mail unless you advise us that you would otherwise like to pick it up in person.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns with respect to the closing of your transaction or your final report, do not hesitate to contact our offices at any point so that we may clarify any questions you may have.