PREPARATION OF FILE

What you do

In preparation for the closing of your sale transaction, you will be required to do the following:

  • Call all utilities, cable and telephone to cancel and obtain final meter readings. You must provide them with your forwarding address for the final billing.
  • The contact information for the utility companies are:1. City of Ottawa Water & Tax – 613-580-24442. Enbridge Gas – 1-877-362-74343. Hydro One – 1-888-664-93764. Hydro Ottawa – 613-738-6400
  • Please note it is your responsibility to contact all utilities directly at least 3 business days prior to the closing date, this includes the rental of your hot water tank.  Should their be any documents related to transfer of account for the hot water tank, be sure to forward to our office so that we can provide to the buyer’s for completion.
  • Forward a copy of your most recent tax bill to our office immediately.
  • Cancel your house insurance. Make sure it is cancelled effective the day following the closing date.
  • Cancel any contract services, for example, alarm systems, newspapers, snow removal and/or other contract services.
  • Inform us of any mortgages (this also includes secured lines of credit) that are registered on the property.
  • Inform yourself of your mortgage payout figures. Inquire with your bank as to what penalties, administration fees, discharge fees, etc., will be charged. Please be aware that on mortgage payouts, daily interest applies to the next business day as per your bank’s instructions. If your mortgage is a secured line of credit, please do not use any funds from the line of credit near closing or in the event you do, please notify our office immediately.
  • 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.
  • Advise us immediately if you are a non-resident of Canada as defined by the Income Tax Act, as amended.
  • Inform us of any potential problems such as court judgments on title, matrimonial separation, tax arrears, shortage of funds to pay mortgage(s), house problems, etc.

What we do

In preparation for the closing on your sale transaction, we will do the following:

  • Review Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
  • Review all documents which you are required to sign by the buyers’ lawyer.
  • Prepare usual documents for the closing of the transaction.
  • Obtain figures of any outstanding amounts on any mortgage(s) and arranging for payment of these from sale proceeds.
  • Payment of real estate commission fees, if any, from sale proceeds.
  • Payment of our legal fees and disbursements from sale proceeds.
  • Meet with you for final signatures.
  • Balance of sale proceeds will be given to you directly or deposited into your bank account (you must provide us with a VOID cheque for this service).
  • A final reporting 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.
  • One set of keys to your property. Please ensure that all other keys, garage door openers, warranties, manuals, and any other useful information is left in a convenient, visible location at the subject property.
  • VOID cheque (if you would like the sale proceeds automatically deposited into your bank account).

CLOSING DAY

On the day of closing, we will have possession of the sale proceeds by 5:00 pm. The actual time depends on the following factors:

  • receipt of mortgage proceeds, if any, by the buyer’s lawyer;
  • the time the buyer’s lawyer is prepared to close;
  • high volume of closings on-line (mid-month and month-end are particularly busy); and,
  • traffic for couriers delivering keys, sale proceeds, etc. to and from the other lawyer’s office involved.

Once the transactions closes, and registration occurs, we contact you to advise.

If you wish to pick up your sale proceeds personally, you may do so at our Orleans location late on the day of closing. However, if you have requested direct deposit, please note that your deposit may only be effective the following business day, depending on when we receive your proceeds and your bank’s policies.