Here are some common questions that come up during a sale. Click any question to expand the answer.

When you sell, any mortgage registered against your property needs to be paid out and discharged from title as part of your completion. We'll request a payout statement from your lender showing the exact amount owing as of your completion date, including any per diem interest and discharge fees. If your mortgage has a fixed term, ask your lender early about any prepayment penalty so there are no surprises when you see your final numbers.

If you have a home equity line of credit (HELOC) secured against your property, it needs to be paid out and discharged at completion — even if the balance is very low or currently sitting at zero. A HELOC stays registered against your title until it's formally discharged, so it has to be dealt with regardless of balance. Let us know as early as possible if you have one so we can request the payout information in time.

You'll want to contact each of your utility providers directly to cancel or transfer your accounts — this isn't something we handle on your file. We recommend setting your cancellation date for the day after your completion date, just in case your closing gets delayed for any reason. Don't forget to forward your mail to your new address, and keep an eye out for any final utility bills that show up in the months after closing — if the buyer ever gets a bill that was actually your responsibility, it'll get forwarded along to you for payment.

Property taxes get split between you and the buyer based on your completion date, not paid entirely by one side. If your completion falls before the tax due date, the buyer pays that year's taxes and you reimburse them for your share — though any arrears are still your responsibility. If your completion falls after the due date, it's on you to make sure the taxes (and any arrears) are paid before completion; the buyer then reimburses you for their share of what you've paid, but any arrears or penalties stay yours to cover.

You can only claim the Home Owner Grant for a property you actually own — once your sale completes and title transfers, you're no longer eligible to claim it. If your completion date falls outside the window around when property taxes come due, this is straightforward: whoever owns the property at the time claims the grant, as long as they qualify. But if your completion lands within the couple of months around the tax due date, it becomes more of a judgment call — we look at both sides of the numbers and determine who's better positioned to claim the grant, so the tax adjustment between you and the buyer works out fairly for everyone. This is something we sort out on your file directly, so there's no need to check with your municipality about it.

Most residential contracts specify that your property insurance needs to stay in force until 12:01 am on your completion date, with the buyer's coverage picking up from that point forward. Check your Contract of Purchase and Sale to confirm the exact time and date, since it can vary, and don't cancel your policy before then — you want to stay covered right up until the moment the buyer's insurance takes over.

On completion day, funds and title change hands between the notaries and lawyers involved — but we typically don't receive the incoming funds until quite late in the day. Once your existing mortgage, line of credit, real estate commission, and any other payouts are deducted, we prepare your net proceeds. Unless your contract says otherwise, you're generally responsible for any courier or wire fees involved in getting the incoming funds to our office. Because funds usually arrive too late in the day to turn around same-day, your proceeds are typically ready for you the next business day. Please note we issue a single cheque with all sellers' names on it — we can't split it into separate cheques or different amounts per seller unless a court order or independent legal advice authorizes that.

If you're not a resident of Canada for tax purposes, you'll likely need to apply for a clearance certificate from the CRA before you can receive your full sale proceeds. This process can take up to nine months, and in the meantime we may need to hold back 25% to 50% of your proceeds until the certificate is issued. There are also strict deadlines involved — if notice isn't given to CRA before your completion date, it has to be made within 10 days after. Please let us know as early as possible if this applies to you, since it can affect your ability to pay out charges registered on title and needs lead time to manage properly.

We use commercially reasonable efforts to get your charges paid out and discharged, but we can't guarantee how quickly — or whether — a lender will cooperate. If a lender is slow to respond, provides an incorrect payout statement, or refuses to release a discharge after being paid, we'll let you know and may need your help resolving it, sometimes at an additional cost. This isn't common, but it's worth knowing about going in.