We help clients manage the legal steps involved, identify issues early, and coordinate the moving parts that can affect timing, risk, and value in a property matter.
Real estate matters can involve multiple parties, deadlines, documents, approvals, and financial considerations. Our role is to help clients understand what needs to happen, identify potential issues early, and move through the process with practical legal guidance.
We advise clients on commercial real estate transactions and related property matters, including purchases, sales, leasing, financing, and ownership considerations. Our team works with businesses, landlords, investors, lenders, and property owners to help structure and complete transactions efficiently.
We assist with real estate matters connected to building, development, land use, and construction-related property issues. This may include development transactions, severances, condominium development, and related real estate considerations.
We act for property owners, businesses, landlords, developers, and investors whose property rights are affected by expropriation, easements, rights-of-way, road widening, transit projects, utility corridors, and other public infrastructure or government acquisition matters.
We assist individuals and families with residential purchases, sales, financing, closing issues, ownership structure, title insurance, and related property questions.
Real estate matters often involve more than a transaction or closing. They may raise financing, development, municipal, ownership, business, or dispute-related considerations.
Himelfarb Proszanski helps clients approach these matters with practical advice and the broader legal support needed to move forward.
Commercial real estate matters often involve lenders, investors, businesses, landlords, tenants, and other stakeholders. Our team helps clients manage the legal and practical issues that can affect timing, risk, and next steps.
We advise clients at different stages of a property matter, from acquisition and financing to development, ownership, leasing, expropriation, dispute risk, and sale. This helps clients receive practical support as needs evolve.
When a real estate matter intersects with corporate/commercial issues, litigation risk, estate planning, financing, or other legal considerations, our team can coordinate with lawyers across the firm to provide more complete support.
We assist with more than standard purchases and sales, including commercial transactions, development and land use matters, severances, expropriation issues, and property matters involving institutions, lenders, businesses, and investors.
Real estate matters often involve more than documents and closing steps. Clients may be dealing with lenders, investors, municipalities, consultants, valuation issues, ownership questions, or competing property interests.
Our Real Estate team brings experience with the parties, processes, and practical issues that can affect timing, risk, compensation, and next steps.a
Broad experience working with Schedule 1 banks, trust companies, credit unions, private lenders, financial institutions, investment dealers, and limited partnerships.
We have honed our skills in commercial real estate with property matters involving businesses, landlords, tenants, investors, lenders, and property owners, where timing, risk, financing, and practical business considerations often intersect.
Significant experience with land-related matters involving planning considerations, severances, municipal requirements, construction-related property issues, and development coordination.
We’ve developed a deep experience helping property owners, businesses, landlords, developers, and investors address expropriation issues, partial takings, easements, rights-of-way, business loss, injurious affection, and compensation for affected property rights.
Complex property matters may require input from appraisers, planners, engineers, accountants, and other consultants. Our team helps coordinate the legal strategy with the right professional support.
Experience with property issues that may involve ownership questions, access rights, easements, boundary concerns, adverse possession, leasing disputes, mortgage issues, or coordination with litigation counsel where needed.
Use the lawyer-provided FAQ content, shortened where helpful. Commercial, development, and expropriation questions should appear first, followed by residential questions.
A severance is the legal process of dividing one parcel of land into two or more separate parcels. It usually requires approval from the local municipality or consent authority before the new lot can be legally created or sold.
Severances are commonly used when an owner wants to sell part of their land, create a new building lot, or adjust boundaries between neighbouring properties. A real estate lawyer can help review the proposed severance and advise on the legal steps required.
Not all properties in Ontario can be severed. A proposed severance must comply with local zoning by-laws, official plan policies, servicing requirements, lot size requirements, and other planning considerations.
Because the rules vary depending on the municipality and the specific property, it is important to get legal advice before beginning the severance process.
Severance costs may include municipal application fees, surveyor fees, possible development charges, legal fees, registration costs, and other related expenses. There may also be costs to satisfy conditions of approval, such as obtaining reference plans, addressing zoning issues, or completing work required by the municipality.
These costs are separate from normal purchase or sale closing costs and should be considered before applying for a severance.
No. Initial offers are often based on preliminary valuations and may not fully reflect all compensable losses. Property owners should obtain legal advice before accepting an offer to understand what compensation may be available.
If only part of your property is being taken, you may still be entitled to compensation for more than the land acquired. Depending on the circumstances, compensation may also address the impact on the value, use, access, or development potential of the remaining property.
In many expropriation matters, Ontario’s expropriation legislation may provide for the recovery of reasonable legal, appraisal, and other professional fees incurred in advancing a compensation claim. The availability and scope of recovery depends on the circumstances.
The key difference is what happens to each owner’s interest in the property when they die. With joint tenancy, the property usually passes automatically to the surviving owner through the right of survivorship.
With tenants in common, each owner has a separate share in the property, which can be equal or unequal. That share passes through the owner’s estate according to their Will or, if there is no Will, Ontario’s intestacy rules.
Title insurance protects the insured owner and/or lender from certain title-related issues that may affect the property. Depending on the policy, it may cover issues such as title fraud, registration errors, defects in title, unknown liens, encroachments, or other problems that existed before closing.
A real estate lawyer can review the title insurance policy with you and explain what is, and is not, covered.
Closing costs are additional amounts a purchaser is responsible for on closing, separate from the purchase price and mortgage funds. They may include the balance due on the statement of adjustments, land transfer tax, registration fees, title insurance, legal fees, and disbursements.
The purchaser must usually have enough funds available to cover these costs in addition to the down payment, since the bank’s mortgage advance does not normally cover all closing costs.
Land transfer tax is calculated based on the value of the consideration, which is usually the purchase price of the property. The tax is calculated using a graduated rate system, meaning different portions of the purchase price are taxed at different rates.
Land transfer tax is generally payable on closing when the transfer is registered.
Purchasers in Toronto may also have to pay municipal land transfer tax in addition to provincial land transfer tax.
