Caution: Careful how you advise clients about the Land Title fee increases in Alberta Attention All Realtors: Be Cautious When Advising Clients To Avoid Land Title Fee Increases The Alberta Land Title Fee Increases are around the corner. Starting July 1st, 2015, all the Alberta Land Title fees will be increasing. Everything [...]
BEWARE: Risks of Joint Tenants to Avoid Probate Adding a Name to Land Title or Bank Accounts: Joint Tenants for Avoiding Probate Bank accounts and land can be both be owned as joint tenants or as tenants in common in Alberta. Joint tenants own the land equally. In Alberta, this means there is [...]
Be Cautious With Private Mortgage Investments Private Mortgage Lending Can Be Risky If Not Managed Well! Lending money on a private mortgage can be a great investment. Investors can control their risk and have certainty on their interest rate. It is important to remember, though, that you have to ensure that you do [...]
Defences That Do Not Get Rid Of Mortgage Debt A Bad Defence To Your Mortgage Foreclosure When people fail to make their mortgage payments, they often point their finger at other people. In this case, the debtor wanted to avoid paying back his mortgage because (essentially) he had more debts than he [...]
Caveat Means Beware: Restrictive Covenants Are Restrictive Covenants or Caveats from 1911 Enforceable? Recent Case Law As real estate lawyers, we are often asked about the enforceability of old restrictive covenants and caveats. There is an assumption that because a restrictive covenant was registered in 1911 that it is expired. Some take [...]
Needing RPRs in Alberta Who needs real property reports in Alberta? It is a question that we get all the time. There is a cost to produce them and to get municipal compliance. Sellers require them for almost every residential real estate transaction that takes place in Alberta. Yet many people do [...]
So You Have an Illegal Secondary Suite”¦.. As flood waters recede, advocates of secondary suites are again renewing their calls for grandfathering in existing illegal suites. They cite the low vacancy rate (hovering around 1%), the impending return of post-secondary students this month, and the fact that numerous apartment buildings and basement suites were adversely [...]
City Requirements for a Legal Secondary Suite Last month we introduced the topic of illegal suites and the varied positions of Calgary city council members, with one camp prepared to grandfather in all existing suites, provided they meet certain building safety codes, and the other camp in favor of maintaining the status quo of bylaw [...]
Illegal Suites have become a big issue in the City of Calgary. With Calgary continuing to lead the nation in population growth, secondary suites are an ever-present topic of discussion amongst a diverse group of stake-holders. Municipalities look to ensure compliance with zoning requirements and building codes, real estate investors seek to capitalize on [...]
Condominium documents are essential to know the "health" of a condominium. This holds true about the condo building, its financial resources and the effectiveness of the condo board. When buying a condominium it is very important to have the condominium documents reviewed professionally so that you know what it is that you are buying and [...]