The offer to purchase is first part of the complex process of buying a home.

After the seller has accepted your offer, the next step is to bring the Agreement of Purchase and Sale (PSA) to your lawyer to start their work on the next part of the process.

Your lawyer will ask you many questions about the property you are purchasing and what you intend to use it for. The answers to these questions are important for your lawyer to complete and close the deal, including to protecting any rights you may have.  Your lawyer will conduct many legal inquiries, for example, searches of title and executions, background and fact checks, governmental compliance, etc., to ensure that at the end of the transaction you are the legal owner of the house and you are legally allowed to live in the property.

Your Real Estate Lawyer’s main responsibility is to be your trusted advisor and confidant, to advise you on all the pertinent details and issues that may arise.  Some of the main responsibilities your lawyer are to:

  • prepare and check mortgage documents and explain the terms of your mortgage
  • explain the different ways in which you can own the property if you are buying it with someone else, and the difference between being joint tenants and tenants in common
  • check the statement of adjustments to ensure that you are paying only your share of the taxes, utility and fuel bills, and other costs that have been pre-paid by the vendor (seller)
  • explain the purposes of the documents that you have to sign

Some things that your lawyer can do to help make the transition to your new home as simple and as smooth as possible can include:

  • arrange with the utility companies to have hydro, water and fuel meters read on the day of closing, and to have all future bills addressed to you;
  • ensure that you have home insurance in place as of the closing date;
  • hold in trust your closing funds and those provided by the mortgage lender, and transfer them to the vendor to ensure the home purchase closes; and
  • arrange for you to recieve the keys to your home as soon as possible after closing.