Residential Real Estate

 
“The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back”
— Wendy Wunder

WHAT IS A CONVEYANCE?

We can help you with the sale or purchase of your residential property.  This area of law is often referred to as “conveyancing".

“Conveyancing" is the term that refers to the transfer of property from one owner to another.  When buying or selling, your realtor will help you with preparing and signing the contract and a lawyer will help you with processing the transaction. There are a number of documents other than the contract that need to be signed by both parties to process the transaction, including mortgage documents if you are buying a property with the help of a lender. 

The seller is responsible to pay for any costs up to the adjustment date and the buyer is responsible for costs from that point onward.  One of the documents that is prepared is called a “statement of adjustments" which shows the breakdown of what the seller is responsible for and what the buyer is responsible for.  For instance, if the seller has already paid the annual property tax for the whole year but the buyer will own the property for part of that year, then the buyer will owe the seller part of that amount.  In that situation, the statement of adjustments will show a credit being given to the seller for that amount.

Both the seller and the buyer sign a range of documents before the closing date.  On the closing date the transfer of ownership is registered in the Land Title Office and the money is paid to the seller.  If the seller had a mortgage on the property, then the seller's lawyer will arrange to pay off the mortgage using part of the money received from the buyer.

 
 

We humbly and respectfully acknowledge that our work takes place on the traditional territory of lәk̓ʷәŋәn-speaking peoples, which includes the Xwsepsum, also known as the Esquimalt, the lәk̓ ʷәŋәn, also known as the Songhees, as well as the SENĆOŦEN, Malchosen, Semiahmoo, and T’Sou-ke speaking W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. We acknowledge the long and continuing history of colonization and Indigenous peoples resistance to it, in particular the harm, violence, and racism towards Indigenous people that has occurred as a result of the legal profession.

As an organization who welcomes and strives to serve all people, we believe that inclusive language is a way of acknowledging and respecting the diversity of bodies, genders and relationships. People experience and express their gender and sexuality in different ways. People have different biological sex characteristics.

Inclusive language ensures we don’t leave people out of our conversations or our work. Inclusive language acknowledges the diversity of people we work with and serve.