Can a Seller Make the Sale Conditional on Buying Their Next Home? How a Seller’s Condition Works in an Ontario Offer
OREA has a clause built for it. Here is where it sits in the offer, the three ways it can end, and why it costs the buyer something even if no one says so.
Can I sell my house in Ontario on the condition that I find somewhere else to live first?
Yes. The Ontario Real Estate Association’s clause library has one for exactly this, SBP/SA-7, “Condition – Seller Finding Accommodation,” and it is a buyer’s condition turned around. With a buyer’s sale-of-property condition (SBP/SA-1), the buyer decides whether it’s satisfied and the buyer may waive it. In SA-7 the seller sits in that chair: the offer depends on the seller finding accommodation satisfactory to the seller in the seller’s sole and absolute discretion, and only the seller can waive it, in writing, before the deadline. What stays the same on both sides is the default: if no written notice arrives in time, the offer is null and void and the buyer’s deposit is returned in full without deduction.
Source: Ontario Real Estate Association, Residential and Commercial Clauses, January 1, 2026 edition (clauses SBP/SA-7 and SBP/SA-1)
I’m Arthur Zhao, a Toronto real estate Broker. A seller who also needs a next home is running two timelines that don’t line up. The sale has a buyer, a price and a closing date the moment the offer is accepted. The search for the next place has none of those, and it can run longer or shorter than anyone hopes.
Buyers have a standard tool for their version of this problem. OREA’s own annotated Form 100 names arranging financing, a home inspection, fire insurance and selling the buyer’s current home as examples of buyer conditions. A seller’s condition is the mirror image: the seller signs, but keeps the right to walk away if the next home doesn’t come together in time. Below is how that works on paper, how it ends, and what it asks of the person on the other side of the table.
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Where it lives in the paperwork
A seller’s condition is not a box on the printed Form 100. It is an added clause, and added clauses go into Schedule A, which Form 100 says forms part of the Agreement and which must be initialled by all parties. Section 26 of Form 100 adds that where an added provision conflicts with the pre-set wording, the added provision wins.
Three other OREA forms then do the closing-out work, and each has a different job:
- Form 124, Notice of Fulfillment of Condition(s): the seller confirms the condition has been fulfilled. The form states that all other terms of the Agreement stay unchanged.
- Form 123, Waiver: the seller gives up the condition without it having been met. It carries the same line that everything else in the Agreement remains in effect.
- Form 122, Mutual Release: the buyer and seller acknowledge the deal is terminated, release each other and the brokerages, and direct the deposit holder on where the deposit goes.
Notices also have a route. Under section 3 of Form 100, the seller appoints the listing brokerage to give and receive notices, any notice must be in writing, and it counts as delivered when it reaches the address for service, or the email or fax number written into the Agreement. That appointment does not apply where one brokerage represents both sides or a party is self-represented.
Three ways the condition period ends
Fulfilled. The seller finds a place they are satisfied with and delivers written notice before the deadline. Form 124 is the form for this. From that point the condition is gone and the deal moves toward closing on its other terms.
Waived. The seller hasn’t found anything, or hasn’t finished, but decides to go ahead anyway. SA-7 lets the seller waive it at the seller’s sole option by written notice to the buyer within the time period. Form 123 does this.
Lapsed. No notice arrives by the deadline. Under SA-7’s own wording the offer then becomes null and void and the deposit goes back to the buyer in full without deduction. Nobody has to send anything to make that happen; silence is the trigger. Form 122 is the form OREA built for the clean-up afterward, when the parties want a signed release and written direction to the deposit holder.
That third outcome is worth reading twice. According to the Ontario Real Estate Association (2026), clauses can be drafted the other way round too: a condition subsequent keeps the agreement binding unless someone acts. SA-7 is not written that way. If the seller forgets to send notice, the sale is over. Form 100 section 20 also makes time “of the essence,” and any change to the deadline needs an agreement in writing signed by both sides or their authorized lawyers.
⚠️Only the seller can waive SA-7, and the buyer can’t shorten it. The clause reserves the waiver to the seller’s sole option. A buyer who wants the condition resolved sooner has no one-sided way to force it: under Form 100 section 20, changing a time limit takes an agreement in writing signed by both the seller and the buyer, or their authorized lawyers.
Not every condition can be waived
SA-7 says it is included for the seller’s benefit, which is why the seller alone may waive it. That wording is a choice, not a law of nature. According to the Ontario Real Estate Association (2026), in the guidance printed with its clause library, not all conditions can be waived, and some will have to be satisfied or the transaction cannot proceed.
The clearest example sits in the same section of the library. SBP/SA-3, “Condition – Seller’s Release from Previous Agreement,” makes an offer conditional on the seller getting out of an earlier signed sale. OREA’s note on that clause calls it a true condition precedent that neither the seller nor the buyer is entitled to waive. It either happens or the deal is void.
A seller’s condition also doesn’t have to be about housing. MORT-6, “Condition – Credit Check,” makes the offer conditional on the seller being satisfied with the buyer’s personal and/or credit worthiness. Like SA-7, it is stated to be for the seller’s benefit and can be waived by the seller by written notice within the time period. So the question to ask of any condition is not “whose idea was it” but “what does the clause say about who benefits and who may waive.”
ℹ️The clause wording is OREA’s, and it is copyrighted. OREA publishes its clauses as guidance, not required wording, and says it does not warrant their suitability for any particular deal. If you want the condition narrowed, widened or reworded, have a real estate lawyer draft the change rather than editing it yourself.
What the buyer carries during the condition period
None of the clauses spell this out, so this part is my reading of how the pieces fit together rather than a rule from the forms.
Once the buyer has signed and the offer is accepted, the buyer is bound by it. The seller, through SA-7, holds an exit the buyer does not have. If the deposit was paid “Upon Acceptance,” Form 100 requires it within 24 hours of acceptance, and it sits with the deposit holder in trust pending completion or other termination of the Agreement.
From the buyer’s side, that amounts to an option granted for free unless something else in the deal pays for it. The buyer has committed money and a decision; the seller has committed to selling only if the seller’s own search works out. If the buyer has their own move to plan, a lease to end or a mortgage approval with an expiry date, each of those runs on the seller’s clock until the condition is resolved. How a particular buyer weighs that is their call, and I won’t guess at it here.
💡 My personal view: a seller’s condition is a request that the buyer carry your uncertainty for you, and it should be priced like one. Treat it as something you trade for, using other terms in the offer, rather than a free line you add to Schedule A. If you ask for it, decide in advance what you are prepared to give back on price, closing date or other terms, because the condition has a cost to the buyer whether or not anyone puts a number on it.
Other ways to handle the same worry: which risk do you keep?
If you are thinking about a seller’s condition
Three groups, in the order the decisions actually bite.
- ☐Decide whether you could close without a next home lined up. If you could, you may not need the condition at all.
- ☐Compare it with buying first, a later closing date and a rent-back, and name the risk you would keep under each.
- ☐Decide what you would offer the buyer in return for carrying the condition.
- ☐Ask your lawyer to review the clause and pick a specific date and time for the deadline, as OREA’s guidance recommends over a number of days.
- ☐Confirm the clause is in Schedule A and that every party has initialled the schedule.
- ☐Check the notice details in Form 100 section 3: the address for service, the email and the fax number.
- ☐Use Form 124 if you have found your place, or Form 123 if you decide to go ahead without it, and deliver it before the deadline.
- ☐Keep the buyer’s signed receipt acknowledgement on the form.
- ☐Remember that silence ends the deal under SA-7: no notice by the deadline means the offer is null and void.
- ☐Expect the deposit to go back to the buyer in full without deduction.
- ☐Use Form 122 if both sides want a signed release and written direction to the deposit holder.
- ☐Before accepting a new offer, have your lawyer confirm the first agreement is fully ended. SA-3 exists for a seller who is not yet sure.
- Ontario Real Estate Association, Residential and Commercial Clauses (January 1, 2026 edition): SBP/SA-7, SBP/SA-3, SBP/SA-1, MORT-6, and Important Guidance to Users
- OREA Form 100, Agreement of Purchase and Sale (Forms Explained, 2026): Deposit, sections 3, 20 and 26, Schedule A
- OREA Form 124, Notice of Fulfillment of Condition(s) (Forms Explained, 2026)
- OREA Form 123, Waiver (Forms Explained, 2026)
- OREA Form 122, Mutual Release (Forms Explained, 2026)
Conditions in an Ontario Offer: Financing, Inspection & More →Letting the Seller Stay a Few Weeks After Closing: How to Negotiate a Rent-Back in Ontario →What Do the "Conditions" in a Home Offer Actually Protect? Financing, Inspection, and Status Certificate Explained →Ontario Home Buying Guide →
Frequently Asked Questions
If I rent an apartment instead of buying, does that count as finding accommodation?
SA-7 refers to the seller finding accommodation satisfactory to the seller in the seller’s sole and absolute discretion. The wording does not limit it to a purchase, so if your clause uses that standard wording, a rental you are satisfied with would appear to fit the words. If your clause has been changed, read what it actually says, and have a lawyer confirm before you rely on it.
Is a seller’s condition the same as a buyer’s condition to sell their own house?
They are mirror images. The buyer’s version, OREA clause SBP/SA-1, makes the offer conditional on the sale of the buyer’s property, is for the buyer’s benefit, and only the buyer can waive it. SA-7 flips that to the seller. In both, if the required notice isn’t given by the deadline, the offer is null and void and the deposit is returned to the buyer in full.
Which OREA form do I use to confirm my seller’s condition is met?
Form 124, Notice of Fulfillment of Condition(s), which confirms the condition has been fulfilled and leaves all other terms unchanged. If you decide to proceed without meeting it, the form is Form 123, Waiver. Either one has to reach the buyer, in writing, before the deadline in the clause.
Can a seller add other conditions besides finding a new home?
Yes. OREA’s clause MORT-6, “Condition – Credit Check,” makes the offer conditional on the seller being satisfied with the buyer’s personal and/or credit worthiness. It is written for the seller’s benefit and can be waived by the seller by written notice within the time period. Any added condition goes into Schedule A.
Should the clause describe what kind of home I’m looking for?
The standard SA-7 wording doesn’t: it leaves satisfaction to the seller’s sole and absolute discretion. Adding a description would change OREA’s wording, and whether that helps or limits you depends on how it is drafted. That is a question for a real estate lawyer, case by case, before the offer is signed.
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