Dear Real Estate Representatives, Presidents and Library Staff, 

In an effort to keep real estate lawyers updated with the ever-changing situation, we have further information to be shared with the real estate lawyers in your association. 

Consultation re: Virtual Commissioning Regulations

Have your say! The Ministry of the Attorney General is accepting comments on its proposal to establish a regulatory framework that enables virtual acts of commissioning. The proposal was posted on July 14, 2020 and comments are due by July 22, 2020. Further details are available here.

The consultation window is very short, so we encourage anyone who is interested in providing comments to do so before the deadline.

Planning Act Amendments

We regularly receive inquiries about the status of the Planning Act amendments brought forward by Doug Downey in a private members’ bill last year. The bill effectively died following second reading when Mr. Downey was appointed to cabinet as Attorney General.  As we have previously reported, the draft amendments are now with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and we have been encouraging the government to reintroduce them in a new bill.

Earlier this week we participated in a Justice Sector Call with the Attorney General and had an opportunity to ask him about the status of these amendments. He is still very keen to see these amendments enacted, and suggested that letters of encouragement from lawyers to their local MPPs may be helpful.  Contact information for all MPPs is available here.

Tarion Consultation

Tarion is seeking input on 10 consumer protection initiatives, including the implementation of eight of the Auditor General’s recommendations.  Further details are available here. 

Tarion has offered to set up an online meeting with the FOLA Real Estate representatives if there is interest. Alternatively, written submissions can be made through the Ontario Regulatory Registry here or by emailingsubmissions@tarion.com before August 24, 2020.

Please let us know if your association is interested in participating in an online consultation with Tarion regarding and if there is sufficient interest, we will make arrangements.

Tarion Advisory

Tarion issued a bulletin on July 6, 2020 regarding the reinstatement of timelines and resumption of in-person inspections. The bulletin is available here.

If and when we receive further information of interest to the real estate bar, we will pass it along. 

Stay up to date with FOLA’s real estate information at https://fola.ca/real-estate-law.

Merredith MacLennan and Eldon Horner

FOLA Real Estate Co-Chairs

Please note: The information provided herein is of a general nature only and is not intended to provide legal advice.