Legally Speaking Old Is Not Necessarily Obsolete #480

On occasion, buyers become interested in properties that are subject to historical easements, some over one hundred years old…

Legally Speaking Licensee’s Duty to Know Effect of Municipal or Other Governmental Land Use Laws #380

The decision in Legally Speaking 379, that the representative had a duty to know the relationship between the building code and municipal bylaws concerning inspections and permits, is one of several decisions examining..

Legally Speaking Negligence – on the Base Path – Play Ball (Carefully) #315

With so many licensees involved in recreational team sports, such as softball, hockey or basketball, the question of the liability of a person who injures another during the course of a game may be of some interest…

Legally Speaking Reasons for Judgement on Another Offer #173

The Court of Appeal has handed down reasons for judgment on another offer or option case. This one concerned an offer to purchase containing conditions which required the vendor to deliver copies of leases…

Legally Speaking Actions Against Licensees – Negligence and Interfering With Contractual Relations #152

Chutzpah is a Yiddish word meaning “brazen nerve”…

Legally Speaking Interest – The Criminal Illegal Rate #151

In times like these we might feel that high interest rates are a crime, but they don’t become a crime under the Criminal Code of Canada until the effective annual rate exceeds 60%…

Legally Speaking Appraisers – Renewal, Lease, Date for Valuation of Rent; Property Managers – Doing Business in Washington State #146

Any well drawn commercial lease containing an option to renew at a rent to be agreed upon during the renewal term either provides a formula by which the rent can be calculated, or provides that the rent will be fixed…

Legally Speaking Commission, Claim by Former Employee for Listing Portion of The #86

As every licensee knows, the listing obtained by that licensee is the property of the agent for whom the licensee is employed at the time the listing is taken…

Legally Speaking Locked-in Mortgage – No right to prepay #84

There must still be some high interest mortgages in force because I have received several calls from licensees asking for an update of columns 38 and 39 in which the question of whether or not a locked-in mortgage…

Legally Speaking Section 30 Real Estate Act #78

This is the section that prohibits payment of any commission or other compensation to any unlicensed person for “acting or attempting or assuming to act, as an agent or salesman…

Legally Speaking Damages for Breach of Contract – Avoided or Reduced #64

Usually a judge will not assist a person who is in breach of contract, to avoid the consequences of that person’s default…

Legally Speaking Offer or Option – Chapter 2 #63

Column No. 57 discussed at length the problem of deciding whether a condition in an offer to purchase is not what is commonly referred to as a true condition precedent, but rather creates an option which must either…

Legally Speaking Damages in Lieu of Commission #62

The advantages of a listing agreement which fully describes the basis upon which a commission is earned and the obligations of the owner toward the listing agent, in order to support a claim for commission or for…

Legally Speaking Offer or Option #57

The following are all abbreviated examples of the usual “subject to” clauses to be fulfilled by a purchaser, right…

Legally Speaking Locked-In Mortgages – a Further Report; Non-Refundable Deposits – a Further Comment #56

The battle to force a mortgagee to accept prepayment of a locked-in, high-interest rate mortgage which had been renewed after the initial term of five years had expired, continues on several fronts within the legal…

Legally Speaking Guarantees #51

The fall in real estate values has made the security held by financial institutions of somewhat dubious value with the result that the number of Court actions against guarantors to recover deficits owed by principal…

Legally Speaking Due Diligence Irrelevant; Time Is of the Essence #36

A number of decisions in the past few years have emphasized the necessity of recognizing the commercial reality which leads to the formation of the agreements entered into in the real estate industry…

Legally Speaking Land Title Office Records and the Highways Act #27

A purchaser entered into an agreement for the purchase of land adjoining the highway which, according to his search of title in the Land Title Office, was of a certain area. Subsequent to the completion of the…

Legally Speaking Damages, Deposits; Separate Legal Representation for Vendors #26

In an Ontario case which arose because of a purchaser’s refusal to close a real estate transaction, the vendors were awarded S5,000.00 general damages for the “vexation, frustration, distress and anxiety, caused…

Legally Speaking Removal of Conditions and the Law and Equity Act #17

An offer to purchase the assets of a hunting and fishing lodge, was subject to a number of conditions, one of which was the following: “Subject to obtaining financing, provided that this subject clause shall be…

Legally Speaking Increases in Annual Rentals and Interest Rates Under the Interest Act #15

Before we leave 1981, we should refer you to two columns in which the Court cases upon which the discussions in both columns were based, were either appealed or affected by a decision in a separate case…

Legally Speaking Understanding Stock Clauses #5

In reviewing lengthy legal documents, we may often concentrate on the meat of the agreement (the payments, the rents, the interest rate, etc.) and cast only a fleeting glance at the clauses which are variously…