Congratulations on your upcoming real estate sale and thank for choosing
Mandani Law!
Mandani Law Professional Corporation, will be acting on your behalf with
respect to your sale of your real property. We will be handling all
enquiries and preparing documentation in relation to your transaction.
Please do not hesitate to contact our office at any time if you have any
questions as the transaction progresses. There are several issues mentioned
below that We should discuss soon, either in person or by telephone. We
will also need to meet shortly before your closing date to review the
entire transaction, sign the documents and arrange for the transfer of the
sale proceeds. Someone from our office will contact you to arrange such a
meeting closer to when this date approaches.
Please review this agreement thoroughly. This agreement establishes the
solicitor-client relationship (i.e. lawyer and client). If you do not
understand any of the terms or language, please contact us and we will
gladly explain any questions you may have. This agreement sets out the
rights and responsibilities between our law firm and you the client.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
At this time, Mandani Law have not been retained to represent you generally
or in connection with any other matter. We will not be able to advise you
on tax matters as we do not practice tax law but we can work with tax
professionals you retain, to obtain advice that we can incorporate into the
relevant documentation. By agreeing to this Retainer Agreement, you, the
client(s) shall hold Mandani Law Professional Corporation, it's lawyers,
staff, agents, heirs and successors harmless and shall indemnify them from
all claims and liabilities relating to taxes liabilities and concerns.
During the retainer, we have authority to act for and on behalf of you in
connection with such matters and to conduct such matters in all respects.
Except where you have specifically instructed otherwise, we may act on your
behalf and bind you in all necessary and related legal forms and procedures
within reason and we will be expected to take all steps reasonably
necessary to further and protect your interests.
CLOSING DATE
The closing date of your transaction will be listed in the Agreement of
Purchase and Sale and may be amended by an amendment form agreement to the
original Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Your real estate agent should be
able to assist with any amendments to the closing in the early stages of
your transaction. Please keep our office informed of any delays or changes
in the closing date.
Additional Fee For Delays Caused By Client
If any delays are caused by you as a result of any reason within your
control, then we reserve the right to charge an additional $350 plus HST
per extension.
FEES AND DISBURSEMENTS
Our legal fees for completing your transaction are $900, plus HST, and all
applicable disbursements and taxes. This fee includes services rendered in
a standard real estate sale transaction.
In some real estate transactions, there may be unforeseen issues and/or
difficulties that arise as a result of matters beyond our control. We
reserve the right to increase our fees to reflect any additional time
expended with the completion of your transaction and will contact you to
discuss same.
Mandani Law shall have the right to charge additional fees for more than
one mortgage or loan payout that Mandani Law is required to discharge for
closing.
What Are Disbursements?
Disbursements are expenses that your lawyer charges you for out-of-pocket
expenses that you would otherwise be required to pay if you handled the
transaction yourself. Because your lawyer generally pays these expenses,
the lawyer requires you to reimburse them by including these items in their
account. Examples of disbursements include but are not limited to:
• Execution Certificates – fee paid to the government to search for writs
registered against purchaser and vendor name
• Law society levy – Charge by law society, in Ontario it applies where
there is no title insurance or on the sale of a property
• Parcel Register – Charges to research title
• Photocopy and printing
• Postage and couriers
• if required, discharge of mortgage fee – Paid to the Ontario government to discharge
the mortgage from Title
• Software transaction charge – For the specialized software used by your
lawyer
• If your property has two or more units or is located in a rural
environment; then additional enquires may also be necessary.
INTEREST
Under the Ontario Solicitors Act, bills for fees and disbursements
remaining unpaid more than 30 days after the bill is delivered, will bear
interest at a prescribed rate as specified on the bill. Payment is due on
all of our accounts when rendered. If any account is not paid within 30
days, interest will be charged on the outstanding balance at a rate of 5%
per annum from the date of the account, until paid.
INFORMATION REQUIRED
Please provide the following information and/or documentation to our office
as soon as possible:
• Copy of your Transfer.
• Your most recent realty tax bill.
• Details of any mortgage or secured line of credit (institution, mortgage
number, etc.) registered against the title to the property.
• Details of any bridge loan (institution, reference number, related
property purchased, etc.) that must be paid off upon the closing of this
sale transaction, as well as a copy of the bridge loan agreement and any
other related documents.
• If your house is heated by oil, the capacity of the tank and a recent
fuel oil bill.
• If your water is not metered, a copy of your most recent water bill.
• Any survey of the property which you might have. Please advise us of any
changes to the property which are not shown on the survey (for example, a
deck addition).
• Your country of residence (if not Canada).
• Whether the property is used, in whole or in part, for purposes other
than residential use as HST may be applicable to the sale under such
circumstances.
• If any part of the property is currently tenanted and the purchaser(s)
will be assuming the tenancy upon closing in accordance with the agreement
of purchase and sale, please let us know the part of the property that is
subject to tenancy (e.g. basement), the name(s) of the tenant(s), the
amount of rent, the payment date of the rent (e.g. first day of each
month), the amount of the last month's deposit (if any) and the date when
the last month's deposit was received (if applicable).
• Your mailing address and telephone number following closing.
FIRE INSURANCE
You are responsible for cancelling your fire insurance coverage. We
recommend that you do not cancel the insurance until the day following the
actual closing of the sale.
UTILITIES
You are responsible for contacting the local utilities authorities (water,
hydro and gas) and telecommunications companies to terminate your accounts
and to arrange for final meter readings if applicable.
KEYS
I will require at least one set of all keys necessary to enter the premises
to deliver to the purchaser on the closing date.
SIGNING
We will meet with you shortly before your closing date to review your file
and to have you sign documents. We will discuss the distribution of the
sale proceeds, including any remaining real estate commission obligations,
and the payment or transfer of funds. We will need to meet with each person
required to effect the transfer. If any such person will not be available
at that time, please advise us as soon as possible as alternative
arrangements may have to be made.
IDENTIFICATION
At our meeting, We will require each person, as noted-above, to bring two
pieces of identification, one of which must be Canadian/Federal or
Provincial government-issued photo identification such as a driver's
licence or passport. Unfortunately, a health card is not acceptable
identification. If you have any questions about what is an acceptable form
of identification or if you do not have Canadian/Federal or Provincial
photo identification, please contact us as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your transaction, please do
not hesitate to contact our office. We look forward to being of service to
you.
TERMINATION OF SERVICES
By you, the client
You have the right to terminate our services to you upon written notice to
our firm.
By us, the Solicitor(s)
Subject to our obligations to you to maintain proper standards of
professional conduct, we reserve the right to terminate our services to you
for good reasons which include, but are not limited to:
-
if you fail to cooperate with me in any reasonable request;
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if our continuing to act would be unethical or impractical;
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improper behavior or aggression;
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if or retainer has not been paid;
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you are dishonest; or
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if you fail to pay our accounts when rendered.
If you terminate our services or we withdraw our services, you would only
have to pay fees, disbursements, and expenses up until the time we stopped
acting for you.
We would also have to withdraw our services if we learned of a conflict of
interest that would make it unethical for us to continue to act for you. A
conflict of interest occurs when what is best for one of the clients of our
firm somehow is not best for or hurts another of our clients. If we have to
withdraw our services for you because of a conflict of interest, you will
only have to pay our fees and expenses up to the time we stopped acting for
you.
Fees Collected On Terminated Or Cancelled Matters With Flat Rate
Fees
Please note for matters that have flat rate fees such as Real Estate
closings, we reserve the right to charge for our time and resources spent
up to the termination of the solicitor-client contract.
Terminations may also occur upon a client’s failure to close as a result of
a lack of funds or other breach of contract. Mandani Law shall have the
right to charge for its time and resouces on files that are terminated as a
result of client negligence.
OFFICE HOURS AND RESPONSE TIMES
Mandani Law’s regular office hours are 10 AM to 6 PM, Monday through
Friday.
We aim to manage and prioritize our clients files depending on the nature
and need of each matter. As such, please allow us to return your emails,
phone calls and faxes within one business day. Emails, calls, and faxes
received on holidays or weekends will be responded to the following
business day. Please only leave a maximum of two messages a day on our
voicemail, email, or fax systems.
YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE RETAINER AGREEMENT FOR SOLICITOR AND CLIENT
By entering in your information below and by clicking “I Agree”, you are
acknowledging that you have read this retainer agreement in full and that
you agree to abide by the terms set out above.
If you do not agree to this retainer agreement, there is no
solicitor-client relationship. Do not fill out the information below and
submit this form agreement if you do not agree to these terms. Please
advise us immediately of any questions, concerns, comments or if you do not
agree to this retainer agreement.
