2023

One person’s pet can be another’s worst nightmare – or at least, an effective allergen-delivery vehicle. That’s why it’s helpful to have regulations governing the questions of pets when people live together in one building – but those regulations aren’t always easy to enforce. Sara Beheshti looks at a recent case in Alberta.

Quick closing dates, ease of access to information, sophisticated and cost-sensitive clients, and of course title insurance, have altered the way a commercial transaction is carried out. Timothy Kennedy talks about what’s changed, and what lawyers need to do to adapt.

All real estate lawyers know that if real property is being sold by a non-resident of Canada, the purchaser is required to withhold 25 per cent tax from the purchase price unless the vendor supplies a “section 116 certificate” as required by the Income Tax Act (ITA). Did you know that this rule may also apply to the sale of an interest in real property?

Karen Decker, vice-president of legal and underwriting at Stewart Title Guaranty Company, discusses the impact alternative business structures could have on the real estate bar. She says it looks like the bar is up to working through the challenges ABS would bring.