News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 02, 2020
A Message to Our Readers
 9.4K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
EarthCam Time-Lapse Documents Rafael Viñoly-Designed New Stanford Hospital Construction
 40K     0 
News   GLOBAL  |  Apr 01, 2020
Resort Town
 5.3K     0 

C

caddyfleet

New Member
Member Bio
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
95
Reaction score
0
What have your lawyers found in contracts that they had amended?

I was looking into a unit from Monarch Group, is there anything to look out for? anythings a customer should request? any tips? anything I should let a lawyer know?
 
You should make sure your lawyer puts caps in for closing costs for levies and for utilities and other charges the developer may pass on to the purchaser. A good real estate lawyer will be able to amend your contract. Keep in mind with most developer contracts, you don't have much wiggle room to amend too many things. Monarch is pretty good, I have purchased Monarch condos before and have a few new Monarch projects to close on. The contracts were straight forward and my lawyer capped the closing costs.
 
caddyfleet said:
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2008/01/09/condo_crunch/



I watched this video
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/marketplace/condo_crunch.wmv


is there any way to really guarantee the size of the condo that I am getting and view? should all the exact sizes be listed in the contract and exact view direction?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a gaurantee...if they are off by certain square footage, if they change the layout, add or subtract a bathroom or bedroom, then it would be considered a material change. Even with the new HST that is supposed to come into effect, some lawmen are saying if closing costs go over the 10% mark which has been the benchmark for years, it could constitute a material change and purchasers would be able to back out of their contracts. It's not about guarantees actually, it's about how good/savvy your lawyer is!
 
I understand. I watched the video and basically the lawyer is saying, us as the consumers dont have much power, if I bring him the contract, he makes a bunch of changes, sends it to the condo builder, they reject 90% of the changes, what power do I have? I just have to accept it and go in blind? roll the dice? how many changes will they accept?


This lawyer seems pretty good, he was in the video, anybody use him?

http://www.aaron.ca/practice-real-estate.cfm
 
caddyfleet said:
I understand. I watched the video and basically the lawyer is saying, us as the consumers dont have much power, if I bring him the contract, he makes a bunch of changes, sends it to the condo builder, they reject 90% of the changes, what power do I have? I just have to accept it and go in blind? roll the dice? how many changes will they accept?


This lawyer seems pretty good, he was in the video, anybody use him?

http://www.aaron.ca/practice-real-estate.cfm
Click to expand...

I haven't used the above lawyer before but I have an excellent condo real estate lawyer who has dealt with at least 15 of my client's purchases with Monarch group that I could recommend. PM me if you would like his contact info.
 
I'm in my cooling off period right now. Red Hot Condos, Camrost-Felcorp. In the purchase agreement, the adjustments say that it includes things like
- Purchaser to pay Vendor's legal & admin fees $350+GST
- Purchaser to pay Vendor's solicitor fee for holding deposit money up to $100+GST
- Purchaser to pay Vendor's Transaction Levy Surcharge to Law Society
- $2900 cap for adjustments

Is that standard? Doesn't that mean I'm paying THEIR lawyers and my lawyer?!! And I've been told $2900 is a bit high, but what is the average cap? I haven't found anything about levies (http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=10578) yet I think.
 
in a hot market (like right now) they probably reject 90% of your lawyers amendments because if you don't buy it, someone else will .... they may give you a few caps to the fees but that doesn't mean much since the caps are high anyways. Just stick with a reputable builder (not remington LOL) and you're not likely to get screwed with closing costs.
 
caddyfleet said:
thanks for the advice! If anybody has anymore tips or tricks please feel free to help me out!

Thanks!
Click to expand...
It can be many things, depending what is and isn't already in the contract, and what you need.

Most builders back off from petty legal fees ( Vendor's legal & admin fees, Vendor's Transaction Levy Surcharge to Law Society etc).

Others could be:
- HST (some contract couple of months ago still did not have it included)
- builder's permission for assignment (sometimes you can negotiate assignment fee)
- right to lease the unit in the occupancy period
- caps for levies (always).

Your lawyer should review your contract and discuss your situation and all potential issues with you.
 
My experience Monarch is pretty standard. They have the list ready already what is negotiable and what the caps will be. Most of time you go with the flow by knowing everybody else who went back they would've got the same deal, despite what your lawyer has put down for you.
 
Sorry for the thread revival but I can't post a new thread so I'll have to piggyback on this one.

I recently moved into a condo I purchased pre-construction. The Disclosure Documents indicated the fitness room would have "1 Universal Gym, 1 Weight Station" among other things like treadmills and a TV. The problem is now that the room is setup it only has the universal gym.

A couple weeks later when I emailed the builder, they replied after a few days and said they were in the process of ordering the weight station.
However the next day they replied again and said they were incorrect earlier, the universal gym they have is both the universal gym (the seat on one end), and the weight station (the 2nd seat on the other end). I.E. they're claiming in one exercise machine is a Universal Gym and Weight Station because it has two seats.

Frankly I feel like they're bullshitting me, but what recourse do I have on this? We exchanged a couple emails but they're insisting on both items listed in the disclosure doc being represented by the one machine. They also decided to throw in that if I "had things my way" the weights would be stolen eventually.
What kind of recourse is there for these kinds of issues?
Is there anything I can do short of involving a lawyer?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top