The New Toronto Land Transfer Tax Ripoff!

The City of Toronto as you may or may not know now has doubled the land transfer tax payable on all real estate purchases.

In my view, this is an out and out ripoff. The municipal governments inability to manage their own finances has resulted in this concentrated, unbalanced and unfair tax grab.

The result will inevitably be: The smaller home owner will be driven out of the Toronto home market and property values will increase as a result. Most home purchasers will think twice before buying a new home in Toronto thereby slowing the Toronto Real Estate market down significantly over previous robust years. Millions will be lost to the local economy by all those who make a living off of the transfer of real estate, those being Real Estate Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, Moving companies, Contractors, Support Staff and the list could go on and on!

Way to go Miller and Company! I’m sure you won’t be around long enough to enjoy your reaping!

A bit about myself.

I am a 41 year old male. I’m a freelance Title Searcher / Conveyancer / Searcher of Records with 24 years of experience. The region I cover is the Province of Ontario, Canada.

My clients include private individuals as well as some of the largest law firms and corporations in Canada, including Fraser, Milner, Casgrain LLP / Shibley, Righton LLP / Basman, Smith LLP / McMillan, Binch, Mendelsohn LLP / Skurka, Spina, Cugliari LLP / Owens, Wright LLP / Basman, Smith LLP /  Shell Canada Ltd. & Wal-Mart Canada Ltd. just to name a few. I also do work for private investigators, namely The Corpa Group, Brockbank & Associates & Kroll Worldwide / Navigant Consulting.

I am available for title searching tasks as well as land registrations for the Province of Ontario. Please see my contact information below.

MY MISSION STATEMENT:

‘To provide the legal community and private individuals the very best in legal service in a timely and accurate fashion with professional and considerate personal attention with attention to every detail’

My Contact Info:

PHONE: 416 347 1141 FAX: 416 255 3132

EMAIL: terasearch@rogers.com

WEBSITE: http://www.cjwlegal.com

I have the ability to search titles and register documents in any city in Ontario, Canada. Should you require any of my services, please see my contact information above.

Paypal, Interac money transfer or direct bank deposit (TD Bank) are my preferred methods of payment for all of my fees and disbursements. Prepayment by personal cheque is also available.

www.paypal.com

HOW TO DO A PROPERTY TITLE SEARCH WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO, CANADA

To conduct a property title search in the Province of Ontario, Canada you must do one of two things.

1. Attend the land registry office in the region related to the property you want to search. (i.e. the land registry office for the city of Mississauga is located in Brampton, Ontario) Follow this link for a list of Land Registry Offices in Ontario, Canada

http://www.ontario.ca/en/services_for_residents/STEL02_165696

Ask the staff at the registry office to guide you in searching your own title. The cost is minimal…usually under 20 dollars CDN.

2. Hire an independent title searcher to do the search for you if option one is not available to you or you just don’t feel comfortable doing the legwork. I can be reached using the info below.

I, Chris J. Whelehan am a licensed & insured Title Searcher in Ontario, Canada. I also provides numerous other legal services including title document registration (inter-spousal transfers, transfers to other family members or individuals) litigation searches, incorporations, PPSA inquiries (personal property ie. vehicles, small loans), mortgage preparation and registrations, lien & caution registrations etc.  Please visit my website for more information.  www.cjwlegal.com 

Chris J. Whelehan Legal Services

Phone: (416)347-1141

Fax: (416)255-3132

Email: terasearch@rogers.com

WEBSITE: www.cjwlegal.com

Title Searching in Ontario, Canada…The Basics

Title Searches in Ontario, Canada are available only through the online registry system known as Teranet (the application is named Teraview). One must be a licensed user of Teranet to be able to access any property information province wide.

Hello, my name is Chris J. Whelehan. I am a licensed user of Teraview and have been searching real estate titles on a freelance basis in Ontario, Canada for over 24 years. In this post, I’ll briefly and simply outline the world of title searching in Ontario, Canada.

Automation (the transformation of paper records to electronic data) of the land registry systems started some 10 years ago in London, Ontario, Canada. Automation is continuing today and is almost fully completed in Ontario. Before that time, titles had to be searched the ‘old fashioned’ way by searching through old abstract books dating back to the Crown Patent for each concession lot throughout Ontario. There is a land registry office in every county in Ontario, Canada. The old standard (by law) was to go back 40 years to ensure a clear chain of title with no existing encumbrances or ‘clouds’ on title. This was called the Registry System. These days, to be able to form a legal opinion of a property, one only has to search back to when the last registered owner took title. This is call the Land Titles System. All searches are done online by licensed users such as myself through Teranet.

Through a proper title search you will learn the owners name, when they bought, how much they paid, property boundaries, legal descriptions, outstanding mortgages, easement, rights of way, any other parties may have an interest in the land (spousal interest etc) . Usual entries on any title abstract include agreements, easements, transfer (deed), charges (mortgages), orders, leases, by-laws & restrictions. Agreements can be many different parties, but are generally between developers and municipalities. Easements are usually between the owners of the property and utility or communication companies reserving access to your land for the purposes of maintaining their hardware. Restrictions can be imposed on a property by the municipality or the developer for various reasons.

If you are purchasing a property in Ontario or just to find out who owns what land in Ontario and what affects the property, a title search or name search must be performed. This can be done rather inexpensively through independent title searchers such as myself, or through a lawyer at a much higher cost. All searches are guaranteed to be accurate by the Government of Ontario.

I, Chris J. Whelehan am a licensed & insured Title Searcher in Ontario, Canada. I also provides numerous other legal services including title document registration (inter-spousal transfers, transfers to other family members or individuals) litigation searches, incorporations, PPSA inquiries (personal property ie. vehicles, small loans), mortgage preparation and registrations, lien & caution registrations etc.  Please visit my website for more information.  www.cjwlegal.com 

Chris J. Whelehan

Phone: 416-347-1141

Fax: 416-255-3132

Email: terasearch@rogers.com

Website: www.cjwlegal.com

How you can save $$ by NOT using a Lawyer!

Suppose you and your spouse hold a property as joint tenants and you want to transfer the property into either your or your spouses name alone (or the opposite). You would go to a lawyer, right? Well, you could if you weren’t too fond of saving money! Most people don’t know that this is a simple registration and you don’t have to see a lawyer to complete this task. A lawyer’s charge for something of this nature would be in the $500.00 range. Paralegal / Title Searcher such as myself…less than half of that!

Let’s say you need to search the title to your land or any other land in the Province of Ontario. Lawyer? No, Paralegal! This is a simple process for a licensed title searcher such as myself and all title information is guaranteed accurate by the Government of Ontario. See my post Title Searching in Ontario, Canada 101.

Are you interested in investigating your spouse to know what other properties might he/she have an interest in? This too can be done for much less than a lawyer or private investigator.
Let’s say you want to incorporate your company, but you don’t know where to start? You might go to a lawyer, right? A lawyer would charge you close to $1,000.00 CDN to complete this task. A paralegal / title searcher, less than half of that.

Let’s say you’re a contractor and you haven’t been paid by the owner of the property you are doing work on. You would go to a lawyer to put a construction lien on title, right? Once again, this is a simple task that a paralegal / title searcher such as myself can do for you for less than half the cost of a lawyer.

How about private mortgages? If you are a private lender, you don’t have to go through a lawyer to register a mortgage on a proptery to protect your interest. This too is a simple registration. Paralegal / Titlesearcher ! Savings?…Hundreds!

What about Small Claims? Say you want to sue somebody who has done you wrong. If your claim is under $10,000.00 CDN, you can use a paralegal to guide you through the Small Claims process! Savings?…again…Hundreds.

Hello, my name is Chris J. Whelehan. I am a Paralegal / Title Searcher in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

I am a licensed & insured Paralegal / Title Searcher in Ontario, Canada. I also provides numerous other legal services including litigation searches, incorporations, PPSA inquiries (personal property ie. vehicles, small loans), title document registrations, deed, mortgage preparation and registrations, liens registrations etc. My work is conducted from my residence, therefore I don’t pass along office expenses as a lawyer would.

Chris J. Whelehan

Phone: 416-347-1141

Fax: 416-255-3132

Email: terasearch@rogers.com

WEBSITE: www.cjwlegal.com

Title Searching in Ontario, Canada 101

Title Searches in Ontario, Canada are available only through the online registry system known as Teranet. One must be a licensed user of Teranet to be able to access any property information province wide.

Hello, my name is Chris J. Whelehan. I am a licensed user of Teranet and have been searching real estate titles on a freelance basis in Ontario, Canada for over 24 years. In this post, I’ll briefly and simply outline the world of title searching in Ontario, Canada.

Automation (the transformation of paper records to electronic data) of the land registry systems started some 10 years ago in London, Ontario, Canada. Automation is continuing today and is almost fully completed in Ontario. Before that time, titles had to be searched the ‘old fashioned’ way by searching through old abstract books dating back to the Crown Patent for each concession lot throughout Ontario. There is a land registry office in every county in Ontario, Canada. The old standard (by law) was to go back 40 years to ensure a clear chain of title with no existing encumbrances or ‘clouds’ on title. This was called the Registry System. These days, to be able to form a legal opinion of a property, one only has to search back to when the last registered owner took title. This is call the Land Titles System. All searches are done online by licensed users such as myself through Teranet.

Through a proper title search you will learn the owners name, when they bought, how much they paid, property boundaries, legal descriptions, outstanding mortgages, easement, rights of way, any other parties may have an interest in the land (spousal interest etc) . Usual entries on any title abstract include agreements, easements, transfer (deed), charges (mortgages), orders, leases, by-laws & restrictions. Agreements can be many different parties, but are generally between developers and municipalities. Easements are usually between the owners of the property and utility or communication companies reserving access to your land for the purposes of maintaining their hardware. Restrictions can be imposed on a property by the municipality or the developer for various reasons.

If you are purchasing a property in Ontario or just to find out who owns what land in Ontario and what affects the property, a title search or name search must be performed. This can be done rather inexpensively through independent title searchers such as myself, or through a lawyer at a much higher cost. All searches are guaranteed to be accurate by the Government of Ontario.

Chris J. Whelehan is a licensed & insured Title Searcher in Ontario, Canada. He also provides numerous other legal services including title document registration (inter-spousal transfers, transfers to other family members or individuals) litigation searches, incorporations, PPSA inquiries (personal property ie. vehicles, small loans), mortgage preparation and registrations, lien & caution registrations etc.

Chris J. Whelehan

Phone: 416-347-1141

Fax: 416-255-3132

Email: terasearch@rogers.com

Website: www.cjwlegal.com