Selling your home can be stressful as you deal with preparing your home for sale, finding a real estate agent, arranging for a lawyer and packing your belongings to get ready for a move. We at Homer Frank Law are ready to help you through the closing process.
Receiving an Offer
You will likely work with a real estate agent to sell your home. This agent will guide you through the selling process including the signing of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. When you receive an offer, it is highly recommended that you consult a lawyer before signing the Agreement if there is anything unusual about your property or you have any questions or concerns. Please note that if you are including a survey clause in your Agreement, you should review your survey copy to ensure you have a legible building location survey signed and dated by the surveyor.
Information We Need to Complete Your Sale
To complete your sale file, we will require the following:
- Copies of your tax bills for the current and previous year.
- Particulars of any Mortgages outstanding with respect to the property. Please note that a secured Line of Credit is a mortgage registered against your property.
- A copy of any building location survey of the property in your possession.
- Name and account numbers for all utility providers (gas, hydro, water, oil, propane).
- Details with respect to the heating of the house.
- Information in respect to the hot water heater (or any other fixtures such as water softeners or alarm systems) that are subject to a rental or lease agreement or conditional sales contract
- Please advise if you not a Canadian resident.
- Should your transaction be subject to H.S.T., please provide your H.S.T. registration number.
- Information with regard to tenants, if any, including what unit the tenant occupies, rent paid, whether or not last month’s rent was paid and if so, when, if you have paid any interest on the last month’s rent and if so, when, who owns what appliances (i.e. fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer & dryer as applicable) and who pays for what utilities.
- If this is a rural property, we may require water portability and/or septic information.
- The contact information for your home insurance provider.
- Forwarding Address
As we complete your file, we may ask for additional information on the above items or in respect to conditions in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale or in respect to title to the property.
Meeting With the Lawyer
Your real estate agent will send a copy of the Agreement to our office. We will contact you, obtain required information from you, the agent, the purchaser’s solicitor and the lender to prepare your file for closing. We will arrange an in-person meeting approximately one week before closing to sign your closing documents and discuss your file. You will need to provide two pieces of ID (one piece must be a photo ID such as a driver’s licence or passport) for each person involved in the transaction. Please note health cards are not acceptable. You will also be required to bring in a key to the property for closing.
Closing Day
We are often asked what time your deal is expected to close on the closing date. On a sale file, the closing time will depend on when the purchaser’s solicitor is ready to proceed with closing, usually when the solicitor is in receipt of closing funds.