Falling in love and buying a home together sounds great, but
if problems arise, it becomes expensive to sort it all out. Selling your home
can be complicated and costly when a relationship falls apart. Consider a
contract when you buy to avoid expensive court proceedings.
Here's why:
Pascale Vaudrin and her boyfriend, Glenn Caron decided to
buy a home together in the City of Clarence-Rockland, just east of Ottawa,
Ontario. They took title as joint tenants, meaning that if one passed away, the
property would automatically go to the other.
In January of 2014,
the parties separated and Pascale moved out of the home and wanted to sell it.
Glenn continued to live there and would not agree to the sale of the home.
Pascale then brought a court application for Partition, meaning that she was
asking the judge to order that Glenn leave the home, that the home be sold and
that she be paid back everything that she contributed to the purchase,
including carrying costs. She had a lawyer represent her.
Glenn did not have a lawyer and represented himself in
court. This is never a good idea. He wanted an adjournment as he wanted time to
prove all of the money that he had contributed to the home, but in general he
said he was not against the idea of selling the home. He would also need time
to move out. Glenn also wanted to use the services of a local For Sale by Owner
Company, called Grapevine, while Pascale wanted to use a traditional real
estate agent, Richard Chartier of Coldwell Banker in Ottawa.
In a decision dated August 19, 2014, Master Calem Macleod of
the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered that Glenn leave the home by
November 30, 2014 and that the property be listed for sale for the price of
$415,000 with Richard Chartier, instead of Grapevine.
In choosing the agent, the judge stated that the agent as
well qualified and noted that if they used the Grapevine company, this would be
more of a "do it yourself service" which would require a lot more
involvement and co-operation of both Glenn and Pascale. He stated that the
listing should not be for longer than 60 days. Once the property was sold, he
ordered that an accounting be done so both Pascale and Glenn received what they
each contributed to the property.
Many times clients ask if there is anything they can do if
they have taken title as joint tenants with their spouse and now are not
getting along. The good news is that you can break a joint tenancy, without
much expense, by just transferring your share in the property to yourself. This
is what Pascale did before going to court with Glenn. Ask your lawyer for
assistance to make this happen.
I often have clients call me complaining that they want to
sell their home but their partner or spouse is refusing. If it is a matrimonial
home, it doesn't even matter if your spouse is not on title; they can still
prevent the spouse on title from selling if they do not agree. This is true
even if they paid no money for the house in the first place. In most cases, if
there is no agreement signed beforehand, it will take an expensive court
proceeding to either remove someone from the home, or get an order forcing the
sale to occur.
It is best to consider having a contract with your partner
signed at the time you buy a home that sets out clearly what will happen if the
relationship breaks down. It will save you expensive court proceedings later.
Source: The Star.com, You fell in love. Bought a house. Broke up. Can you force your partner to sell? by Mark Weisleder (lawyer, author and speaker to the real estate industry).
During the process of buying or selling a home, you'll unearth countless questions. I know how difficult it can be to sift through all the details in order to find answers relevant and meaningful to you. On my website I've put together series of reports that provide clear, concise and useful information on a wide range of issues related to real estate. Here you'll find tips on how to save money, real estate insider secrets, renovation advice, and much more. Click HERE to get to my reports!
During the process of buying or selling a home, you'll unearth countless questions. I know how difficult it can be to sift through all the details in order to find answers relevant and meaningful to you. On my website I've put together series of reports that provide clear, concise and useful information on a wide range of issues related to real estate. Here you'll find tips on how to save money, real estate insider secrets, renovation advice, and much more. Click HERE to get to my reports!
Randy Miller
Broker
Re/Max Rouge River Realty Ltd., Brokerage
905-668-1800 or 905-427-1400
randy@randymiller.ca
http://whitbybrooklinhomes.com/
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