Avoiding Some Common Legal Mistakes When Selling Your Home

AVOIDING SOME COMMON LEGAL MISTAKES WHEN SELLING YOUR HOME

This blog is brought to you courtesy of www.lawyerselect.ca

You’re probably already well aware that the purchase or sale of a home is one of the biggest, if not biggest, money transactions you’ll make in your life. So it should come as no surprise that the process involves several complicated legal issues. At first, the sheer number of these legalities may have you feeling a little overwhelmed, but teaming up with the right real estate lawyer will go a ways in simplifying and un-complicating the process. At LawyerSelect.ca, we specialize in connecting you with the right real estate lawyer for your matter. We assess your needs, your means, as well as other factors, to ensure a smooth lawyer-client relationship.

Below, we’ll review some of the most common legal processes that are incorrectly done in the real estate transaction process. It’ll be of utmost importance that you keep these processes in mind during the real estate transaction.

Contractual Mishaps

Contained within the purchase and sale agreement are a number of clauses, which articulate the ownership as well as the rules of the transaction. If these clauses are improperly worded, or lack the required specificity, they may cause unforeseen problems for both the buyer and the seller.

For example, an ambiguous home inspection clause has been known to cause an entire deal to fall through, thereby hurting the seller’s ability to sell their home. From a buyer’s perspective, they should be weary of vague home inspection clauses, as this may indicate some malicious motives on the part of the seller. Thankfully, buyers can back out of the deal if they receive feedback and complaints that are not addressed as binding within the clause itself.

In an attempt to avoid such a result, your real estate lawyer should word the clause in a careful enough manner, and should even consider including an option for the seller to repair any issues that the buyer may raise about the home. This has a two-pronged effect: firstly, it will protect the seller from having the buyer back out of the deal last minute, and secondly, it will also protect the buyer from having to carry the burden of the repairs.

Premature Cancellation of Home Insurance

All too often, homeowners are quick to cancel the insurance on their home. You may not know this, but there are strict timeline adherence requirements and legal consequences that may ensue if you do this. Make sure to review this issue with your real estate lawyer, as they’re best suited to advise you on when to take this action.

For Ontario residents, the law states that you’re obligated to maintain your home insured (in your capacity as a seller) until the real estate transaction is officially and finally completed. If you make the mistake of cancelling your insurance in advance of the transaction’s completeness, then under section 14 of the Ontario Real Estate Associate Agreement, the homeowner stands to incur all the costs of damages to the home, should any damages be suffered. You should keep in mind that closing dates change often and for many reasons, like delayed mortgage approval or other such reasons; don’t take the unnecessary risk of being uninsured by cancelling your policy prematurely.