ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2009
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Beware of Environmental Liability By Brian Madigan LL.B.Recently a restaurant proprietor wanted to determine his liability for payment of a tax bill to the City. Two previous tenants had operated restaurants out of the premises. So, here's what happened. The first tenant undertook some renovati...
01/21/2009
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Are you related to my cousin Vinny? Related Parties under REBBABy Brian Madigan LL.B.Are you related to cousin Vinny? Well, you were until 31 March 2006 and now you're not. That's the "correct" real estate answer!Who are you related to? That seems to be a simple enough question.However, the ent...
01/19/2009
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Unfair Business Practices By Brian Madigan LL.B.The Business Practices Act was a very good piece of legislation, but not too many people knew about it, so last year the Ontario Government replaced it with the Consumer Protection Act.When it comes to real estate there are some important provisio...
01/18/2009
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Chattles Defined By Brian Madigan LL.B.Recently, a reader was concerned about an upcoming closing and was somewhat worried that the vendor was planning to take the garden shed with him. The buyer wanted to know whether the vendor could take the shed and what other things might be considered to ...
01/17/2009
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Two Spring Markets By Brian MadiganJust about everybody wants to know when the Spring real estate market begins. Actually, so do I. It's different each year!If you were to examine the market from an historical perspective, you will probably find that there are two distinct markets. The first i...
01/16/2009
Clarity Clauses, Agreements and Documents (Part 3) The LawBy Brian MadiganA number of individuals wanted to know the source of the law relating to legible agreements.It is contained in Regulation 585 (O. Reg. 580/05) The Code of Ethics under the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act. Here is the...
01/16/2009
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Clarity Clauses, Agreements and Documents (Part 2) The DocumentBy Brian MadiganYesterday we looked at the requirement under RECO for the production of a legible document.A custom had developed among certain real estate agents to prepare and exchange a nicely typed and readable version of the ag...
01/15/2009
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Clarity Clauses, Agreements and Documents Legible Agreements (Part 1)By Brian MadiganThe Real Estate and Business Brokers Act (REBBA 2002) was enacted 31 March 2006 and brought into force a number of new provisions for the real estate industry. One new and important change was the requirement th...
01/15/2009
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Gold (as Real Estate) by Brian Madigan LL.B.It is interesting that the best performing asset class over the last five years has been gold. To some extent this is simply a reflection of economic instability, uncertainty and pessimism. The bounce in performance is largely on a relative basis comp...
01/14/2009
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ORES Performance Index ~ 5 years By Brian Madigan LL.B.This year we reached the end of the 5 year performance comparison. So, how did real estate perform compared to other asset classes?Here's the index summary:182.94....... gold147.63........ crude oil122.85.........GTA real estate111.83.........
01/13/2009