Good fences make good neighbours

Last week, I blogged about whether you have to disclose a crime that once occurred in your home. Today’s question: do you have to disclose the neighbours? Generally speaking, as long as you aren’t asked, you don’t have to disclose anything about the neighbourhood. You can’t lie and say that the neighbours have no dogs,… Continue reading Good fences make good neighbours

Do you have to disclose what happened in your house?

In 1996, in a home in Bowmanville, Ron England stabbed his mother and stepdaughter to death while suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. In the fall of 2011, Eric and Sade-Lea Tekoniemi purchased the property. Once they discovered the events that had occurred years earlier, Sade-Lea developed heart palpitations and anxiety attacks, and the couple has now… Continue reading Do you have to disclose what happened in your house?

Let the seller beware?

The Ontario Court of Appeal released a decision last spring that could have far-reaching effects for home sellers and realtors in Ontario. The decision, Krawchuk v. Scherbak,involved a first-time buyer who purchased a home in Sudbury. The sellers filled out an SPIS form, on which they stated that the foundation issues had been resolved years… Continue reading Let the seller beware?

Let the buyer beware

I frequently get asked this question: what does the seller have to tell me about problems with the home? The short answer is: nothing. In Ontario, there is a caveat emptor or “buyer beware” system for real estate. While sellers are prohibited from actively hiding damage or other issues with a home, they are not… Continue reading Let the buyer beware