Category: Real Estate

Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) will typically be collected on the sale prices of most goods and services in Canada. Although GST does not need to be collected in respect of every home purchase, if you are looking to buy a newly constructed or substantially renovated home, the entire purchase price will be taxable. Fortunately,…

An Offer to Lease is often just as important, if not more important, than the actual lease agreement when dealing with commercial tenancies.  They are most often binding on the parties, therefore, a tenant should take special care to ensure that all terms stated in the Offer to Lease are acceptable. While some people tend…

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation ("CMHC") has announced that it will increase the premiums to be paid by homeowners when obtaining a mortgage with less than 20% equity in the property.  The premiums will increase by an average of 15%. The increase in premiums will result in greater costs to persons buying a home…

The New Home Buyer Protection Act came into force in Alberta on February 1, 2014 and makes it mandatory for every new house or condo (commenced after February 1, 2014) to come with a third-party new home warranty program. All builders must now be registered with a Registry set up under the Department of Municipal…

As Alberta's online Land Titles system (SPIN II) is running, closings can be completed as scheduled for both residential and commercial real estate transactions.  In certain instances, title insurance may be needed to faciliate a timely closing. This, of course, does not apply to properties which are not accessible or which have been damaged or…

In Canada, a home buyer or home owner obtaining a mortgage loan where the principal amount of the mortgage is greater than 80% of the value of the property will be required to obtain default insurance for the lender. This default insurance is typically provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (“CMHC”) or Genworth…

How long until we see something like this in Calgary? CLICK HERE to watch the video. KH/Dunkley Law Group