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, Barrhaven, Bells Corner’s, Downtown, Hunt Club, Kanata, Rockland, and St. Laurent); 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 and water 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.) The contact information for the utility companies are:  City of Ottawa Water & Tax – 613-580-2444, Hydro One – 1-888-664-9376, Hydro Ottawa – 613-738-6400 and Enbridge Gas – 1-877-362-7434.  Please note it is your responsibility to contact all utilities directly at least 3 business days prior to the closing date.
    On closing, I will obtain a vendors’ undertaking to pay the final accounts.  Please note that Title Insurance does not cover any outstanding final utility bills that the vendor does not pay.  Title insurance covers arrears up to the final billing only. Should you receive an unpaid bill reflecting the final meter reading, this is beyond our initial mandate concerning the completion of your transaction.  As per our previous correspondence we have notified utilities on your behalf and confirmation will be provided to you with your closing package at the time of your appointment. For any hydro and gas discrepancies you will need to contact the utility companies directly to update them accordingly.  For any water and tax issues, should you wish to have a letter sent to the vendor’s lawyer concerning payment of the final billing, there will be a $75.00 charge for document preparation and one follow–up contact.  Should this action not resolve the problem, your further options will be to take the matter to Stewart Title Insurance and/or Small Claims Court.
  • Contact water heater company, if rental of water heater is being assumed a few weeks before closing for setup
  • 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, 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, 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 EIGHT convenient locations in Ottawa where you can pick-up your keys:

  • Orleans @2788 St. Joseph Blvd., Orleans, ON, K1C 1G5
  • Downtown Ottawa @ 150 Elgin Street, 10th Floor, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1L4
  • Kanata @ 1000 Innovation Drive, Suite 500, Kanata, ON, K2K 3E7
  • Barrhaven @ 104-2 500 Claridge Drive, Nepean, ON, K2J 3G5
  • St. Laurent @ 800-1730 St. Laurent Blvd., Ottawa, ON, K1C 3Y7
  • Hunt Club @ Capital Corporate Centre, 9 Antares Drive, Ottawa, ON K2E 7V5
  • Bell’s Corner @ Queensway Centre, 200-15 Fitzgerald Road, Ottawa, ON K2H 9G1
  • Rockland @ 928 Laporte Street, Suite 135, Rockland, ON K4K 1L2

Alternative arrangements can be made at an additional cost.

AFTER CLOSING DAY ISSUES

If there are any concerns that arise after closing, (IE. broken appliances, excessive garbage), once again this is beyond our initial mandate pertaining to the completion of your transaction and will be dealt with as a separate matter therefore an additional charge starting at $600.00 + HST will apply to handle any such issues.  One letter will be sent to the vendor’s lawyer outlining your concerns.  Should this action not resolve the problem, your further option will be to take the matter to Small Claims Court.