The
following general information is designed for the purchase of a
standard
residential home.
Rental Properties or
houses under construction have their own unique additional
considerations.
In Manitoba, ownership is
evidenced by a
certificate of title.
The
"title" system has certain advantages, primarily that the government
certifies accuracy of the title thereby eliminating the necessity of
title insurance to protect your interest.
Unfortunately, this
system involves
processing time by the Land Titles Office and creates delays in
document
registration and issue of your new title, of 2 - 4 weeks.
You
must decide and advise our office as to the manner in which you wish to
take
title.
We need the full legal names
of
all persons who wish to be on title.
Most
married couples take title as "joint tenants". Joint
tenants have what is called a right of
survivorship, which
means that upon the
death of one of the parties, ownership passes to the surviving joint
tenant.
Another form of co-ownership
called "tenants in common" is available, and may be preferred by
persons buying property for business reasons.
Tenants in common do not have
a right of survivorship.
On occasion, it may be
desirable for a
married couple to take title in only one person's name in order to
protect the
home from creditors of the other. We
will discuss these issues further at your request.
The Offer to
Purchase typically sets out the exact date and hour a
purchaser is entitled to take possession. This would have been
specified by you at the time you made the Offer to Purchase.
Assuming you do all the things required of you in a timely manner, you
should be able to take possession at that time.
As a result, you should
arrange for movers, deliveries, etc., to
arrive
at a time when you know the home will be vacant. If
you wish to change the possession date, and the seller is agreeable,
please
advise us of the new date and we will make the necessary arrangements
with the
seller's lawyer.
Most often keys are exchanged
through the
lawyers, sometimes through real estate agents, and sometimes between
the seller
and buyer directly.
If you have not
arranged for the exchange of keys directly form the seller by the time
you
attend at our office for closing, we will endeavour to obtain the keys
for you, however they cannot be released to you until you have done
your part at our office, and we have sent the balance of downpayment to
the seller's lawyers office. Often this means someone will have
to come back to pick up keys from us.
You
must arrange for home insurance. Do
it
well in advance of possession date.
Coverage must be effective as
of the date you expect to receive
keys.
If
there is to be a mortgage on your home, you must ensure that the amount
of
coverage is at least as high as required by the mortgage lender. "Loss
Payable" must be in favour
of the mortgage lender, so be sure to provide
your insurance agent
with the
full name and address of your mortgage lender.
Written confirmation of
insurance coverage must
be sent
to
our office prior to possession.
Our fax
number is 888-1597.
Utilities
should be arranged by you, and in order to assist we provide the
following
telephone numbers for you to call. You
will receive further instructions upon calling each utility.
Centra
Gas / Manitoba
Hydro
Call in your reading to 204-453-6712 (Winnipeg) or 1-800-652-4490 toll-free.
City
of Winnipeg Waterworks
204-986-2455 or Utility Portal - Moving
Manitoba Address
change
Manitoba Address Change
Often
referred to as a building location certificate, this document shows the
location of buildings and other structures on the subject property,
including
distances between such improvements and the property lot lines. The
survey certificate is for your
protection and will be required by a mortgage lender, if any.
The responsibility for a Surveyor's Certificate rests with the purchaser unless the seller has agreed to provide it in the Offer to Purchase. If an existing Surveyor's Certificate is provided which does not accurately disclose all permanent structures, a new one may be required, or you may decide instead to go with Title Insurance.
Title insurance is a typically one time on
purchase of a policy of insurance from a title insurance company, which
provides the purchase and mortgage lender with certain protections, one
of which includes mitigating some of the risk of not having an up to
date survey certificate. Title insurance also facilitates the
rapid transfer of monies without risk to the purchaser or mortgage
lender. This convenience means less interest paid by the
purchaser owing to the delay of the advance of mortgage funds.
Title insurance typically costs between $250 and $700.00, and is a one
time only fee for coverage of the buyer that lasts as long as you own
the home.
You
should call our office no later than two weeks before possession date
to set up
our closing appointment.
The closing
appointment should be scheduled to take place at least two working days
before
the date you expect to receive keys. At
that time you will sign such documents as may be required, and will
remit the
funds which are required to close the purchase transaction.
The
funds which you will remit upon your closing appointment will consist
of the
balance of your downpayment together with all applicable adjustments
and
closing costs.
We will estimate this
amount once we have received the necessary information and will advise
you of
the amount prior to possession date.
We
have enclosed an explanation of closing costs and adjustments. It
is useful but not essential for you to
understand how the various adjustments and closing costs work, as we
will do
all the necessary calculations.
It is
important however, for you to have a rough idea of how much money you
will need
and to have sufficient funds available as of possession.
If you have any reservations
at all or feel
you need further explanation, we strongly recommend you make an
appointment
with out office immediately, and we will take you through a detailed
analysis
of adjustments and closing costs. There
is no extra charge for this interview.
The
funds which you remit at your closing appointment will be an estimated
amount.
Final figures will be
available
only upon completion of Land Titles Office registrations and may result
in
either a refund to you or a balance owing to our office.
The
funds which you remit must be in the form of a CERTIFIED
CHEQUE or
BANK
DRAFT payable to Timothy A. Martin, Barrister and Solicitor.
Upon
completion of Land Titles registrations and the payment of all funds
required,
we will provide our final report to you.
The final report consists of
a 4 - 5 page letter which
summarizes the
transaction, accompanied by copies of various documents.
It is important that you
retain it in
safekeeping for future reference. You
should expect to receive the final report between one and two months
after
possession date.
Summary
To
summarize, you must do the following things prior to receiving keys and
possession:
1.
Arrange home insurance, and
ask the agent to send us
confirmation;
2.
Attend our office to:
a)
Provide your certified cheque
or bank draft;
b)
Sign all required documents.
Remember
that you will not receive keys at the time you bring in your funds and
sign
documents, but rather only after we have courier funds and our trust
condition
letter to the seller's lawyer.
That is
why we ask that you attend at least a couple of days before you expect
to
receive possession.
Your Next Step
Thank
you for reading the foregoing.
If you
have not done so, we would ask that you call our office to confirm how
you wish
your name to appear on title and to provide certain information we
require.
From
the desk of Timothy A. Martin, Barrister and Solicitor