Selling

How Does the Commission Actually Leave Your Sale Money at Closing? It Is Not a Separate Document — It Is One Line You Already Signed

On closing day your Ontario lawyer hands you the net, not the sale price — the commission and HST were carved out first. It is not a bill you pay afterward or a separate document you sign at closing; it is one irrevocable instruction printed inside OREA Form 100, backed by a commission trust declaration between the brokerages. Broker Arthur Zhao unpacks both layers, how the 13% Ontario HST is added, and why the rate is negotiable but the paid-first order is not.

Selling a Rural Home on a Well and Septic in Ontario: What the Seller Is Actually On the Hook For

Selling a rural Ontario property served by a private well and septic? Most sellers assume the duty is “test, then disclose.” It is not. Ontario’s heaviest requirements on you sit in R.R.O. 1990 Reg. 903: keep the well maintained the whole time you own it (s.20), keep the casing at a compliant height, and abandon any unused old well (s.21). Septic answers to a different regime — the Building Code, with the Ontario Water Resources Act taking over above 10,000 L/day — and whether a mandatory maintenance inspection applies depends on where the property sits, not on the sale. Broker Arthur Zhao separates buyer diligence from seller duty, weighs testing before you list, and hands you a pre-listing checklist.

Mom Kept a Life Estate, Now the House Has to Sell — Who Actually Decides in Ontario?

It is a common move: parents deed the family home to their adult children but reserve a life estate, so the parent stays a life tenant and the children become remaindermen. Years later the house needs to sell — and suddenly neither side can decide alone. This piece walks through both layers: why the two interests have to merge and everyone has to sign to deliver a clean fee simple, and what happens when someone refuses — Ontario's still-in-force Settled Estates Act, which lets a qualifying party ask the Superior Court to approve a sale. Broker Arthur Zhao also explains why this is not co-ownership and why the Partition Act is the wrong tool.

You Ran It as an Airbnb for Years. Now You Are Selling. Could 13% HST Land on the Sale Price?

Worried that hosting your home on Airbnb means 13% HST when you sell? For most occasional hosts, it does not. Toronto broker Arthur Zhao walks through the narrow test that actually applies: only when a property has become hotel-like — where all or substantially all of the rental arrangements are continuous stays under 60 days — does it fall outside the Excise Tax Act s.123(1) definition of a residential complex and lose the Schedule V, Part I, s.2 resale exemption. Includes the three thresholds people confuse (60 days, one month, 90%) and what to check before you list. Not tax advice; see a tax advisor for your case.

Deposit Frozen in Trust After a Deal Falls Apart? How Ontario’s Interpleader Process Unfreezes It

Your Ontario deal collapsed, both sides claim the deposit, and it’s stuck in the brokerage’s trust account. Broker Arthur Zhao walks through the interpleader process step by step: why TRESA bars the brokerage from simply paying it out, why a mutual release (OREA Form 122) is tried first, how the deposit holder applies to the Superior Court under Rule 43 to pay the funds into court and let a judge decide, and why “the seller always keeps the deposit” is a myth. Costs and timing vary; this is process education, not legal advice — consult a licensed Ontario lawyer.

The Seller Died Before Closing: Is the Signed Deal Still Binding, and Who Completes It?

In Ontario, if your seller dies after signing the agreement but before closing, the deal usually survives — the contract binds the estate, not just the person who signed it. Broker Arthur Zhao explains what really decides whether it still closes on time: how the seller held title (joint tenancy skips probate; sole ownership needs a Certificate of Appointment), who has authority to sign for the estate, the Estate Administration Tax the estate pays, and the buyer’s real options — extend, insist, or walk away. General information, not legal advice.

Selling With an Open Property Standards Order in Ontario: What You Must Disclose, and Can the Buyer Still Walk

A municipal order to comply stops being a matter between you and the city the moment it is registered on title. Building Code Act, 1992, s.15.2(4) is the clause that does it: once the order is in the land registry office it attaches to the property, every later purchaser is deemed served with it as of the original service date, and only a clerk’s discharge certificate clears it off. That one mechanic drives every decision a seller faces next — whether the order has to be volunteered at all (Ontario is largely caveat emptor, though a direct question or a completed SPIS changes the answer), what the buyer’s lawyer can actually do with it during the requisition period, and whether to remediate before closing, price it into the deal, or hold funds back at closing. Toronto’s Municipal Code Chapter 629 supplies the municipal worked example, including the appeal windows and what non-compliance costs. Not legal advice.

Smoke and CO Alarms When You Sell in Ontario: What the Fire Code Actually Requires, and Whose Job It Is

There is no Ontario law that says you must install alarms before you sell. The Fire Code (O. Reg. 213/07) puts smoke and CO alarm installation and upkeep on the owner, as a continuous duty. Here is what it requires, read against your own home, where it surfaces in a sale, and what non-compliance actually exposes you to.