PREPARATION OF FILE
What You Do
In preparation for the closing of your purchase transaction, you will be required to do the following:
- Provide us with a copy of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale as well as all Notices of Fulfillment and/or Waivers and/or Amendments. Once your offer is accepted, ensure that either you, the builder's sales representative or your real estate agent provides us with a copy of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale by facsimile or e-mail well before the deadline for the Title Search (see paragraph 8 on your Agreement, if in OREA standard form). Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that all conditions to your Agreement are satisfied and waived. Provide us with the following information: Your preferred location for your final appointment (Orleans, Hunt Club or Kanata); full name and date of birth; marital status; confirmation of residency; contact information; current address; confirmation of whether the subject property will be used as your primary family residence; mortgage information, if applicable, such as lender name, branch and contact person.
- Arrange mortgage financing, if required. Advise your lender to send all mortgage documents to our Orleans office at least three (3) weeks before the scheduled closing date, if possible. You must make all arrangements directly with your lender concerning frequency and mode of payment. Remember to discuss with your lender any extra charges they might require (for e.g. CMHC or GE charges, administration fees, appraisal fees).
- Contact your insurance broker for your fire insurance at least two (2) weeks before the scheduled closing date. Please ensure that your insurance broker sends us a copy of the insurance binder before closing. The binder must indicate 1st Mortgagee and 2nd Mortgagee (if applicable) as the institution(s) from which you are borrowing (usually the Head Office address not the local Branch).
- Contact your Telephone and/or Cable company a few weeks before closing for setup.
- Contact other utilities to arrange your account. Even though we notify your municipal taxes, water, gas and hydro of the ownership change, we encourage you to contact them to supply any information they may need and to arrange special payment programs (i.e. automatic bank withdrawal.)
- Well and/or septic. If your new property has a well and/or septic system, you will need to provide us with a water potability certificate and/or septic certificate for your lender unless otherwise agreed upon.
- Advise us immediately if you will be unavailable to attend one of our offices on or before closing to execute closing documents. Depending on the circumstances, our recommendations may include: appointing an attorney by way of Power of Attorney to execute the documents on your behalf; changing the closing date; or we may require that you make arrangements to meet with a lawyer in the jurisdiction where you are located to execute the closing documents.
- Book your movers no earlier than 12:00 pm on the day of closing.
- Please review our Buyer's Guide for further assistance with your home purchase.
What we do
In preparation for the closing of your purchase transaction, we will do the following:
- Review Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
- Prepare the necessary closing documents including mortgage documents.
- Obtain search of title.
- Arrange title insurance.
- Notify municipality (water & taxes), hydro and gas of change of ownership.
- Meet with you for final signatures.
- A final report letter will be given to you at the final appointment.
FINAL APPOINTMENT
We usually contact you three (3) to four (4) business days before the closing date to arrange for an appointment to review your file and sign your final documents. This will be the only time we contact you unless any issues arise with your file and/or we require additional information. The final appointment will be held one (1) or two (2) days before your closing day.
You will either meet with Jacques Robert, Sarah Morgan or one of our highly trained legal assistants to sign all relevant documents. This meeting for signatures will take approximately ½ an hour and all owners of the property (or persons with interest, such as consenting spouses) need to be present.
At this time, we will require that you bring the following:
- Two pieces of identification (at least one with photo). Acceptable ids include: driver's licences, permanent resident cards, passports, Ontario new photo id cards, credit cards and birth certificates. If you do not have adequate identification, please contact us well before the closing date to discuss.
- Certified cheque or bank draft payable to "Jacques Robert In Trust" in an amount which we will advise prior to the final appointment. The amount payable will cover the following: Land Transfer Tax and registrations of your deed and mortgage(s); balance due to close; our legal fees and disbursements; financial institution's wire free (if applicable); and, builder's lawyer fee to prepare deed (for new construction purchases only).
- Tarion Warranty Certificate (if purchasing a newly constructed home).
CLOSING DAY
On the day of closing, we will have possession of the keys on or before 5:00 pm. The actual time depends on the following factors:
- the time the seller's lawyer is prepared to close;
- the time the mortgage funds arrive at our office (some banks wire the funds only after 12:00 noon);
- high volume of closings on-line (mid-month and month-end are particularly busy); and,
- traffic for couriers delivering funds, keys, etc. to and from the other lawyer's office involved.
PICK-UP OF KEYS
We have three convenient locations in Ottawa where you can pick-up your keys:
- Orleans @ 2788 St. Joseph Blvd, Orleans, ON K1C 1G5
- Hunt Club/Nepean @ Capital Corporate Centre, 9 Antares Drive, Ottawa, ON K2E 7V5
- Kanata @ Gateway Execute Office, Fourth Floor, 300 March Road, Kanata, ON K2K 2E2
Alternative arrangements can be made at an additional cost.