Toronto Real Estate Board Update:
May 2008
In the first four months of 2008, leased condominium
activity transacted through the TorontoMLS system
increased nine per cent to 3,075 townhouse/apartment units.
Rents trended upward during this period, increasing in all
categories except three bedroom apartment units. Benchmark
two-bedroom apartments rose four per cent to $1,852 per
month, and one bedroom apartments rose the same amount to
$1,445 per month.
TREB's Central area saw the most leased transactions in
the first four months of 2008 with 1,794. About half of these
(870) took place in C01.
The overall Central figure was up six per cent compared
to the same timeframe in 2007, which saw 1,690 transactions,
with the entire increase being real and not the result of rental
units becoming available in new buildings.
Central Area
• The majority of apartment transactions in the Central area
were of one (1,026 leases) and two (620 leases) bedroom
units, which rented for an average of $1,514 and $2,135
respectively. One-bedroom units were up five per cent
and two bedrooms were up six per cent from a year ago.
East Area
• Leased apartment transactions in TREB's East area
numbered 238, up seven per cent over the January to April
2007 period. The majority (128) were two-bedroom units
that rented for an average of $1,430 per month, up three per
cent from last year.
There were also 91 one-bedroom units leased; these
averaged $1,213 per month.
North Area
• The North area saw expanded activity in the January to
April period, with 289 leased apartment transactions. This
is up 46 per cent over the same reporting period last year,
largely due to the completion of several new buildings in
the Warden/Highway 7 area.
• Most leased units in the North area were one and two bedroom
units. One-bedrooms rented for $1,271; twobedrooms
rented for $1,642. Both categories were up two
per cent over the January to April reporting period
in 2007.
West Area
• The West Area remained, after TREB's Central districts, the
most active part of the GTAfor rental transactions. A total
of 587 apartments were leased, up 11 per cent over the first
part of last year.
• Most rental apartments in the West were one and two
bedroom units. One bedrooms rented for an average of
$1,310 per month, up four per cent from last year.
Two bedrooms rented for $1,610 per month, up three percent.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Before buying check survey for boundaries TheStar.com
May 24, 2008 Bob Aaron
Taking the law into your own hands over a property line dispute can be dangerous to your bank account, as one Toronto homeowner discovered recently.
Sharon and Marino Zorz and Katherina Attard are neighbours on Baby Point Rd., near Jane and Annette Sts.
The two houses were built about 80 years ago, and the old fence separating them was not constructed on the property line, but 15 inches west of the actual boundary.
The original deed to the Zorz house included a right-of-way over that adjoining (or easterly) 15-inch strip of the Attard property. For about 80 years, the fence between the houses enclosed the strip of land making it appear that the Zorz land was 15 inches wider than what was shown on the paper title.
In 2001, the properties were converted by the government into the Land Titles system, which effectively froze any rights to adverse possession or squatter's rights as they existed on the date of conversion, but it did not end those rights.
In the fall of 2006, Attard renovated her home and constructed an addition. During this process she removed the old fence and replaced it with a new one on the property line – east of where it had been for the previous 80 years.
As a result, the Zorz family could no longer access their garage, and sued Attard in November, 2006. Later that month they obtained a judge's order requiring Attard to remove the fence. Sometime afterward, the fence was removed and then reconstructed. In March, another court order required the second new fence to be removed until the case was heard.
The case came before Justice Ellen Macdonald in Ontario Superior Court in June last year.
Macdonald decided that the Zorz family had acquired adverse possession (squatter's rights) to the 15-inch strip of land east of the original fence line. The Zorzes and the previous owners of their home had demonstrated continuous, uninterrupted, open and "notorious" use of the disputed strip for many years, to the exclusion of Attard and the prior owners of her property.
Those rights existed in 1990 when the Zorzes bought the property. Even if they didn't acquire the rights at that time, the rights came into existence by their own occupation of the strip of land for more than 11 years from their purchase in 1990 to the conversion to Land Titles in 2001.
Taking all the facts into consideration, Macdonald awarded Sharon and Marino Zorz $7,500 in damages "on account of trespass, nuisance and invasion of privacy."
As well, she ordered the replacement of the fence at the same location as the original fence removed by Attard. Costs of $7,500 were awarded to the Zorzes in addition to the damages.
The case presents some valuable lessons for property owners who find themselves in a boundary line dispute.
Taking the law into your own hands to settle a boundary dispute is risky. Relocating a fence without agreement from the neighbouring owner or a court order is never a good idea.
Always review an up-to-date land survey when buying a house, so that you will know where your boundaries are, and aren't.
Bob Aaron is a Toronto real estate lawyer.
He can be reached at bob@aaron.ca or visit aaron.ca.
New delayed closing rules good for buyers TheStar.com
May 24, 2008 Michael Moldenhauer
How do you get nearly 400 home builders, real estate lawyers, brokers, agents and lenders into a room first thing on a Tuesday morning after a long weekend? You promise to explain the complex new regulations pertaining to delayed home closings or condominium occupancies coming down from the Tarion Warranty Corp., effective July 1.
The new rules are good news for buyers, albeit difficult to follow without a lawyer – which might be a good thing, since you should always engage the services of a lawyer for a real estate transaction.
From the builders' standpoint, our role and goal is to understand the new rules so we can make adjustments to our agreements of purchase and sale and to our business practices to be fully compliant by the effective date.
Former Consumer and Business Services Minister Gerry Phillips started this whole thing a year and a half ago when he wrote Tarion demanding more consumer protection in the area of delayed closings. Tarion responded by completely rewriting the rules, taking them from about seven paragraphs to seven pages (legal size) that must be included with every agreement of purchase and sale.
Tarion has actually produced four mandatory addendums depending upon whether the agreement is for a freehold or condo home and whether the agreement states a firm closing date or a tentative closing date. Unless builders are selling an inventory unit, GTA new homebuyers will generally see the tentative closing date addendum.
Effective July 1, buyers will enjoy the benefits of far more up-front disclosure, including a statement of critical dates, more ongoing communication, and more advance notice of any change in the tentative or confirmed closing date, and more compensation in the event of a delayed closing.
On the disclosure side, new areas of up-front freehold disclosure include whether or not there is sufficient water and sewage capacity to service the development and the nature of the approval or the issues to be resolved if approval is pending. Both addendums require the builder to disclose when construction is expected to commence and then notify the purchaser within 10 days after the actual date of commencement of construction.
The mandatory statement of critical dates requires the builder to set out every milestone date right up to an outside closing date, as well as disclose the purchaser's rights every step of the way.
At the risk of getting it wrong, I won't even attempt to summarize the specific notice provisions with respect to tentative and confirmed closing dates. Suffice it to say that the purchaser will always know where they stand with plenty of time to make key decisions such as listing their existing home for sale or giving notice to their landlord.
As for compensation in the event of a delay, it is rising from $100 per day, maximum $5,000, to $150 per day, maximum $7,500.
Getting back to the effective date of the changes, for freehold homes, if you buy before July 1, you are subject to the old rules and if you buy on or after July 1, the new rules are in effect. With condos, you will need to check when the building went on the market because if just one unit was sold before July 1, every unit in the building will fall under the old rules.
While the new rules will take some getting used to by everyone involved, the minister's demand for more consumer protection has been met, if not exceeded.
Michael Moldenhauer is president of the Building Industry and Land Development Association. The views expressed are those of the president.
Email: president@bildgta.ca
May 24, 2008 Michael Moldenhauer
How do you get nearly 400 home builders, real estate lawyers, brokers, agents and lenders into a room first thing on a Tuesday morning after a long weekend? You promise to explain the complex new regulations pertaining to delayed home closings or condominium occupancies coming down from the Tarion Warranty Corp., effective July 1.
The new rules are good news for buyers, albeit difficult to follow without a lawyer – which might be a good thing, since you should always engage the services of a lawyer for a real estate transaction.
From the builders' standpoint, our role and goal is to understand the new rules so we can make adjustments to our agreements of purchase and sale and to our business practices to be fully compliant by the effective date.
Former Consumer and Business Services Minister Gerry Phillips started this whole thing a year and a half ago when he wrote Tarion demanding more consumer protection in the area of delayed closings. Tarion responded by completely rewriting the rules, taking them from about seven paragraphs to seven pages (legal size) that must be included with every agreement of purchase and sale.
Tarion has actually produced four mandatory addendums depending upon whether the agreement is for a freehold or condo home and whether the agreement states a firm closing date or a tentative closing date. Unless builders are selling an inventory unit, GTA new homebuyers will generally see the tentative closing date addendum.
Effective July 1, buyers will enjoy the benefits of far more up-front disclosure, including a statement of critical dates, more ongoing communication, and more advance notice of any change in the tentative or confirmed closing date, and more compensation in the event of a delayed closing.
On the disclosure side, new areas of up-front freehold disclosure include whether or not there is sufficient water and sewage capacity to service the development and the nature of the approval or the issues to be resolved if approval is pending. Both addendums require the builder to disclose when construction is expected to commence and then notify the purchaser within 10 days after the actual date of commencement of construction.
The mandatory statement of critical dates requires the builder to set out every milestone date right up to an outside closing date, as well as disclose the purchaser's rights every step of the way.
At the risk of getting it wrong, I won't even attempt to summarize the specific notice provisions with respect to tentative and confirmed closing dates. Suffice it to say that the purchaser will always know where they stand with plenty of time to make key decisions such as listing their existing home for sale or giving notice to their landlord.
As for compensation in the event of a delay, it is rising from $100 per day, maximum $5,000, to $150 per day, maximum $7,500.
Getting back to the effective date of the changes, for freehold homes, if you buy before July 1, you are subject to the old rules and if you buy on or after July 1, the new rules are in effect. With condos, you will need to check when the building went on the market because if just one unit was sold before July 1, every unit in the building will fall under the old rules.
While the new rules will take some getting used to by everyone involved, the minister's demand for more consumer protection has been met, if not exceeded.
Michael Moldenhauer is president of the Building Industry and Land Development Association. The views expressed are those of the president.
Email: president@bildgta.ca
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