Condominium Transactions
Calgary Real Estate Lawyers For Condos
Condominium Real Estate Lawyers in Calgary Protect You.
Condominiums or Condos are a popular choice in Calgary, Alberta in terms of where people want to live. There are very specific details that condominium real estate lawyers must be aware of in order to protect their clients. The condominium lawyers at Kahane Law Office are able to help. With offices servicing the Calgary and Edmonton areas, we help throughout most of Alberta. We put our many years of experience to work for you. For reference, Alberta condominium law is governed by both the common law and legislation. Legislation includes general related legislation as well as specific Acts. For example, specific laws include the Condominium Property Act and the Condominium Property Regulations.
What Is A Condominium?
A condominium is a way of dividing real estate in Alberta. In some provinces they refer to condominium real estate as stratas. It divides a piece of land into smaller portions of land or into vertical portions of land. For example, condominium real estate may look like a piece of land, a villa, a townhouse or, as most people think of them, as a apartment style condo. Each individual condominium is a corporation. The corporation owns the common property. The common property includes all parts of the condominium not owned by individual private owners. The condominium corporation also manages the entire condominium project. Individual unit owners make up the ownership group of the condominium corporation.
In Alberta, each condominium corporation is divided into 10,000 condominium units factors. These are most similar to shares in a company. Unit factor allocation is based on a unit holders square footage of their own unit compared to the total square footage of the condominium. An increase in unit factors means both more voting rights. However, it also means that you pay higher condo fees than people with lower unit factors. Condominium real estate lawyers help condominium boards in running the condo, people buying or selling condos and any kind of dispute within real estate condominiums.
Condominium Lawyers For Buyers
All condominium real estate lawyers work with buyer clients in Calgary to make sure that their investment does not come with debt. Debts that new condo owners need to be aware of include, mortgage debt, caveats, amounts owing to condo management companies, etc. Condominium real estate lawyers make sure that title is registered in your name for your unit and ensure that an estoppel certificate is issued to confirm that there are no outstanding condominium debts that will “come with” the condo. Buyers’ condominium lawyers help make your new condo purchase easier. One big concern for buyers that our team helps with is condo parking stalls.
Next, we strongly recommend that all buyers understand what it means to own a condominium in Alberta. Condominium ownership includes key elements that often require investigation to understand. However, we include in the last link more details information for your reference. We also encourage people to take an active roll in their condominium to insure that this significant assets remains in good standing and condition.
Lastly, if you purchase a brand new condominium from a builder, certain differences exist under Alberta law. To avoid additional costs under a high interest tenancy at will, ensure all documents (the contract and mortgage instructions) arrive at the law firm early in the process. A requirement exists for actual land titles registration to release funds to the builder.
Condominium Lawyers For Sellers
Condominium real estate lawyers for sellers act to ensure sellers receive the full payment of the purchase price from the buyer. With the funds, the condominium real estate lawyer pays out existing debts registered on title or otherwise owning. For example, your lawyer pays out:
- Mortgage(s);
- Lines of credit;
- Taxes;
- Home owner association fees;
- Special assessments;
- Condo fees;
- Financial registration on titles such as writs; and lastly
- Real estate agent commissions owning.
It is the condominium real estate lawyer that will notify the real estate agent acting for the seller as to when keys are releasable. In addition, your lawyer orders an estoppel certificate to prove no existing amounts remain outstanding to the condominium corporation.
Condominium Document Review Lawyers
People often ask us, as condominium real estate lawyers to review condominium documents. Condo document reviews usually look at condo board minutes, the by-laws, reserve fund studies, etc. Most residential real estate clients will have condo review specialist do the condominium document review. Those are often more cost effective, however our Calgary condo lawyers are able to complete a review as well. We often find that for commercial properties, clients prefer to hire a lawyer for the condominium document review as their investment is more significant and they want to exercise their due diligence. Lastly, understanding these documents in advance, often saves people money and the stress associated from any restrictions on their ownership that they discover later.
Condominium Real Estate Board Lawyers
Lastly, condominium boards retain both the ability and the obligation to hire the professional assistance they require to properly run the condominium. For example, this includes, engineers, accountants and lawyers. Our Condominium real estate lawyers in Calgary are able to help with a variety of condominium related issues. For example, common issues are collection of special assessments, unpaid condo fees, by-law reviews, suing for faulty work completed by builders or trades, dealing with problematic owners, etc. Our condominium board lawyers can be retained by the board itself or the condo management company.
Condominium Real Estate Lawyers
Condos, as an asset, include several pro’s and con’s. They key includes ensuring you understand the nature of the asset before you buy. Also key, if you own a condo, take an active role in managing the asset and, when sitting on the board, seek legal assistance when required. The condominium real estate lawyers at Kahane Law Office can help with your condominium legal issue needs. Consequently, by getting the information needed before problems occur, you save your board time, energy and money. CONNECT NOW. We can be reached toll-free at 1-877-225-8817 (or 403-225-8810 locally in Calgary, Alberta), or email us directly here.