Title Transfer Lawyers in Ottawa, Ontario
Practice Areas
Transferring the Title
The transference of the title for your home essentially exchanges ownership from one person to another-from the seller, to the buyer. At Francis Lawyers in Ottawa, we make it a priority to keep this process as simple and easy as possible. There are numerous important details that you need to keep in mind if you are thinking of exchanging the title of your property via a title transfer.
Types of Titles/Ownership
Different types of properties can be transferred in different ways. Below we will delve a bit deeper into what’s these important terms mean.
Freehold ownership: This is where you own the property outright.
Leasehold ownership: This type of ownership is when you only have ownership of the property for as long as your lease lasts. Leases of over three years can be registered.
Life estate ownership: You own the property for the entire duration of your life. In the event of your passing, ownership will be transferred to the freehold owner.
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Changing Ownership if you have a Mortgage
Your real estate lawyer should remind you of the “due on sale” clause included in your mortgage. This clause means that a lender can call in the mortgage loan if they do not approve of a title transfer. Before you take any other steps in transferring the title of your property to anyone else, make sure to get approval from your lender first. Once you have their approval, you can contact our lawyer to begin the process of changing ownership.
The Title Transfer Process
Upon receiving a request to transfer land ownership, our lawyer will submit a request for a current copy of the existing title. This helps to make sure that the right person is transferring the title. To accomplish this, we must know the legal description of the property. If you’re not sure what that is, we can find it for you.
Once this is done, we will then draft a transfer of land document, and proceed to book an appointment for you to come in and sign the paperwork documenting the transfer. One of the transferees (the person getting the title in their name) will swear an affidavit of value. All title transfers in the area require this.
Additionally, witnesses will be required to swear an affidavit of execution. Our team of experienced lawyers will prepare these documents and affidavits for you. Once they are signed, we will then submit them to the Land Titles Office for registration.
How Long Does it Take to Transfer a Title?
The process of conducting a land title transfer can be a speedy one, if you have a good lawyer working on your behalf. One of our lawyers can have the documents prepared and ready to be signed within a couple of days, and we can also accommodate same-day signings.
The actual registration process of the transfer can take a bit longer, ranging from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the Land Title Office. This office operates on a first-come first-serve basis, and there is no speeding up the time that they take. We can, however, search the wait time and let you know about how long you may have to wait for the registration process to be complete.