If you are buying, selling or refinancing property, you will come in to see us for a real property signing appointment. Some of the documents you need to sign can be signed electronically. This signing appointment is to review and sign the documents which must be made in person.

Bring your ID and proof of citizenship

We will need to see your ID and proof of citizenship, in person.

We will have asked you to upload copies of your ID to get your file started, but we will actually need to see it in person when you come to sign your documents. These are federal requirements which we cannot work around.

Your ID must be original, intact and unexpired. Both pieces must be government-issued, and have your full legal names. We cannot accept bank or credit cards, or temporary driver’s licences.

One piece of ID must have a photo on it.

One piece of ID must prove your citizenship or status as a permanent resident, such as a Canadian:

  • birth certificate
  • passport
  • citizenship certificate
  • permanent resident card
  • SIN card

Our preferred IDs are a BC Driver’s Licence (or combo card) and a Canadian Passport.

If you don’t have acceptable ID, please let us know BEFORE you come to your appointment! If you come without your ID we will need to sort out how to deal with that, and that will cause delays and potential additional expenses.

Bring proof of your authority

If you are signing for a corporation, an estate, or another person, you will need to bring proof that you have the authority to sign for that third party.

For example, you might need:

  • a copy of a resolution or corporate minute book, proving the company is in good standing and that you are it’s authorized signatory
  • the original, untampered-with Power of Attorney
  • a copy of your grant of probate
  • A copy of your committeeship order

In some cases, we will ask you to bring in these documents well ahead of your signing appointment.

Give yourself lots of time for your signing appointment

Please come to your real property signing appointment a few minutes early. This gives us time to take your ID and get your paperwork ready for you. Expect your appointment to take at least an hour (possibly more depending on questions or the complexity of the work).

Bring any documents you have been asked to bring. You can email documents to us before your signing appointment. Please do not wait until you are at your signing appointment to do this as it often takes valuable time away from the documentation we need to go through with you. We do not offer public wi-fi access, or print out documents from a thumb drive for safety and privacy reasons.

Please do not bring extra people or animals with you. We must make sure you aren’t being forced to sign things, or distracted by children or pets. Service animals are, of course, allowed.

Need extra help to get through your signing appointment?

Need help with additional secretarial services such as printing, emailing or faxing documents after they have been signed? No problem. Just let us know so we can give you an estimate for those services (which are billed separately from our fees for our conveyancing work).

Have difficulty reading or writing English, or need an extra set of ears to help you work through the paperwork? No worries, but the person who helps you at your real property signing appointment must not be in a position of conflict, or someone who could be coercing you to sign documents. This person may be asked to sign a declaration stating that they have truthfully translated the paperwork to you.

For example, if you are transferring property to your son, it should not be that son who helps you with the documents.

Please ask for extra time for your signing appointment if this is the case.

Be kind

It’s always surprising to have to say this out loud, but we do not tolerate abuse of our staff, ourselves or the legal system.

We will refuse service to persons who are rude, abusive, who throw things or have tantrums. And yes, these are all real-life things that have happened.

We will also refuse you service if you appear to be taking advantage of another person, or asking us to deal with documents which are invalid or appear to have fraudulent purposes.

We love helping our clients within our professional obligations, and will often go out of our way to help where we can. When we can’t help, we will always let you know.

Questions?

Call us. We’ll do our best to answer your questions before you come to see us.