At Champagne Law Offices, we offer fixed-price legal cost for the following residential property transactions:

• new and existing home purchases
• mortgages
• property sale transactions

How can a lawyer help with your home purchase?

• prepare an offer to purchase
• provide advice and fact-checking
• assure you of good title

Before You Sign An Offer To Purchase A House

An offer to purchase is a contract that is binding on both of you, the buyer, and on the vendor. Seeing a lawyer before you sign that offer can help avoid difficulties later on, and ensures you that your best interests are protected.

Your lawyer can advise you on the words to include in your offer to purchase a house. For instance, you may want:

• escape clauses that will allow you to cancel your offer if you find out the house is not what you thought it was, if you cannot get a large enough mortgage to finance the purchase, if you cannot sell your current home, or if there are other reasons you should not go through with the purchase
• a guarantee that the property conforms to munciipal by-laws, zoning regulations, and housing standards
• a clause that lists exactly what your are expecting to buy
• a clause about who will pay insurance on the house between the time your offer is accepted and the closing date.

After The Vendor Accepts Your Offer To Purchase

Among many responsibilities, your real estate lawyer acts as your trusted advisor. Your lawyer's job is to make sure that, on the closing date, you really own the house, you paid the right amount for it, and all the paperwork is correct.

It is your lawyer's job to check various details and advise you on a wide range of matters. Among other things, your lawyer will:

• check that the person selling you the house has a right to sell the house and that no one else has a claim to it
• check an exisitng survey of the property or arrange for a new survey to be done in order to make sure that the property is accurately described in the sale documents and in the mortgage
• contact the municipality or township to make sure that the property does not violate any by-laws or zoning regulations and that all taxes have been paid
• contact the public utilities commission to find out if they are owed any money and to let them know when your are becoming the new owner
• talk to you about any special restricitions on the property (for example, others may have a right to use your property to get to their property).
• prepare and check mortgage documents and tell you what the mortgage says you must do
• talk to you about the ways you can own the property if you are buying it with someone else and explain the difference between beign joint tenants or tenants in common
• check the statement of adjustments, which shows the exact amount that you will have to pay the person selling the house on the closing date
• explain the purpose of all the documents that you have to sign
• do a last check as the Registry Office on the closing date, before money and keys exchange hands

A Good Title Is Eessential For You To Be Able To Sell Or Re-Mortgage Your Home In The Future

Why is good title important? Good title ensures that you really own the property, that it is correctly described in official documents and properly registered, and that no one else has a claim or a lien to it that you do not know about.

There are two different approaches that your lawyer can take to assure you of good title.

1. Lawyer's Opinion On Title
2. Title Insurance

It's up to you and your lawyer to decide which one of the two options is most appropriate in your situation.

With any of the options described below, your lawyer will conduct searches and inquiries to find out if there are any title-related problems with the home you plan to buy. Your lawyer will try to resolve most of these problems, and will advise you of how best to deal with ay situations that cannot be resolved.

OPTION 1: LAWYER'S OPINION ON TITLE

If you select this option, your lawyer will provide you with a Letter of Opinion which states your lawyer's view of whether or not you have good and marketable title to your property.
If a problem is identified after you have closed, you can only seek compensation from your lawyer if you can prove that he or she failed to do something that was legally required or provided legal services that did not meet the standards set by the legal profession. You may have to hire another lawyer to help you sure yur first lawyer and get compensation from the lawyer's malpractice insurance plan.

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OPTION 2: TITLE INSURANCE

Title insurance is an insurance policy that you can buy to protect your investment in your property if there is a problem with title. For example, you may find out after you have bought your home that someone else has a legitimate claim to it that has to be satisfied, or you may have to pay to move a building that is too close to a neighbour's property line.
The title insurance policy protects you against the loss that you suffer because of many title-related problems. Most title policies also cover your legal costs if your title is challenged.

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