Real Estate Lawyer: With You All The Way
The real estate world has never been more complex, and the values of homes and buildings are close to record amounts in Ontario and other regions in Canada. The need for experienced counsel is thus more important than ever. It is commonly known that a family home or new office space, for that matter, can be one of the largest investments you may make or own. This can create high levels of stress and anxiety, especially when it comes to pulling all the necessary pieces together as you reach the closing date. It is imperative that the procedure be as smooth as possible covering the necessary basis required to ensure you and your investment(s) are protected. Sound legal advice from an experienced Real Estate Lawyer is highly recommended when commencing your transactions.
Many real estate law firms have turned to law clerks to handle your transactions, as market pressures have impacted the legal fees associated with these transactions. This turning point, whereby the law clerk is overseeing almost every part of the real estate transaction can be concerning and unknown to you as the client. Real estate practices that are highly dependent on law clerks, due to the high volume and pressure of closings are more susceptible to errors and/or important information being missed that can potentially snowball into major legal issues.
Case in point, we recently had a few examples brought to us for remediation. The first saw two mortgages incorrectly registered on the same property by the law firm which were not discovered until much later, when the owner put the property up for sale. In the other, the law firm repaid the wrong bridge-loan amount to the bank on the closing of a sale, and a year later tried to recover the shortfall from the oblivious client to make up for the shortfall. Unfortunately, in both the matters law clerks were heavily involved with little oversight. These are common occurrences especially in firms where the supervising lawyer neglects or due to the volume of transactions fails to review the files prepared by the firm’s law clerks and support staff. The above-mentioned legal errors could have been easily averted had a lawyer reviewed the file diligently before completing the transaction or facilitated the transaction for the client in the manner expected by the client.
By no means are a few bad apples indicative of the entire real estate legal community. However, if you have never been in direct contact, much less met the real estate lawyer on your transaction, the chances are that you are at one of the real estate law firms heavily dependent on law clerks and support staff.
At RJS LAW, our principal owner has seen more than his share of issues both in private practice, and while working for a major title insurer. He has made the fundamental decision to put his client’s first by having only experienced real estate lawyers handle your transaction. You can count on the RJS LAW real estate lawyer(s) to be there with you from initial intake to closing. Our lawyers are just a phone call or e-mail away. Contact RJS LAW for your real estate needs, sale, purchase, re-financing, private mortgages, residential and commercial leasing, and land development.
