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.
Great news!! Further to our update of June 12, 2020 confirming that RBC has
implemented a new protocol to allow lawyers to pay mortgage discharges by wire, wehave been advised that other lenders will also accept a wire transfer for the payment of mortgage discharge amounts:
We understand that Scotiabank is also accepting payment of mortgage discharge funds by wire, but we have not received wire details/instructions.
We also encourage you speak with your own financial institution or those you regularly work with to determine if they will be making similar arrangements to avoid the need for someone to attend at the bank personally to provide discharge payments
There has been considerable debate regarding the payment of bank fees to send or receive wire transfers. It is FOLA’s position that each lawyer should be responsible for the fees charged by their own bank with respect to sending or receiving wire transfers. FOLA’s position matches that of the Provincial Working Group on Lawyers and Real Estate.
If no consensus is reached by the bar, lawyers may have to negotiate with each other on every transaction, since the incoming wire fees vary from lawyer to lawyer and bank to bank. How would the purchaser’s lawyer know how much the vendor’s lawyer’s bank will charge for an incoming wire, if anything? Some lawyers have all incoming and outgoing wire fees included in their monthly account fees; others are required to pay a set amount to their bank for each wire transaction - and that set amount is not consistent among banks. We have heard of amounts ranging from $15 - $75 per wire.
This is no different from a purchaser’s lawyer couriering funds to the vendor’s lawyer where the purchaser’s lawyer pays for the delivery of the funds to the vendor’s lawyer. The full balance due is delivered to the vendor’s lawyer’s bank by wire, and the purchaser’s lawyer pays whatever charges may be applicable by their bank for the delivery to the vendor’s lawyer’s bank. If the vendor’s lawyer has an arrangement with their bank whereby fees are charged to them to receive a wire, that is the responsibility of the vendor’s lawyer. Such fees are, in our opinion, properly chargeable to a client as a disbursement.
Eldon Horner and Merredith MacLennan attended a meeting of the Law Society’s Real Estate Liaison Group earlier this week. The Real Estate Liaison Group is comprised of benchers and staff from the Law Society of Ontario, senior executives from LawPRO, and members of FOLA and the OBA to discuss and review issues of concern or relevance to the real estate bar.
The Group had planned to meet in February but rescheduled to March due to weather issues. The rescheduled March meeting was cancelled due to Covid. The recent meeting was held by video conference and provided an opportunity for the members to provide updates with respect to the state of real estate practice in light of the current conditions caused by Covid-19. A further meeting is planned for later this summer when substantive issues can be discussed.
SUSPENSION OF LIMITATION PERIODS UNTIL SEPTEMBER
The Province of Ontario has extended the suspension of limitation periods and time periods in proceedings until September 11, 2020.
The extension does not affect matters under the Construction Act and court staff may accept for filing requisitions to note parties in default in construction lien actions. Parties affected by the time limits set out in the Construction Act, or its predecessor Construction Lien Act, should continue to operate within the timeframes specified in those statutes.
The Ontario government announced this month it is combining the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal, Environmental Review Tribunal, Board of Negotiation, Conservation Review Board and Mining and Lands Tribunal via the Ontario Land Tribunals.
The Ontario government announced on June 17, 2020 the new combined tribunals are intended to “make it faster to resolve land use planning disputes”. Changes will take effect July 1, 2020. Further details are 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.
Notice to the Profession, Litigants, Accused, Media and Members of the Public (June 25, 2020)
This update includes information on reopening the courts, including materials from the virtual town hall meeting on June 19, 2020, remote hearings best practices, and FOLA's submission to OCJ Chief Justice Lise Maisonneuve regarding the expansion of services on Family and Criminal matters. View the weekly report here or on FOLA's website here.
Update on Court Reopening - Newmarket Courthouse Walk Thru June 16/20
I attended the Newmarket session/walk thru on June 16, 2020 as part of a small group including our LAJ Ghosh and SCJ Fuerst.
There have been not any significant physical changes as of yet. They intend to install significant amounts of plexiglass particularly in the courtrooms, signage and floor makings throughout the building, and addressing elevator and washroom use. These items are on order but have yet to arrive and be installed*
There was significant discussions of a manner of reopening, with issues to be addressed and finalized shortly. In addition we all had access to the presentation on Friday which may impact or temper the suggestions. In any event below are some of the suggestions and discussions from the walk through (again, though no concrete positions taken as of yet):
1. Permitting use of prisoners box for out of custody accused, or multiple accused to sit in as there is already pre-existing plexiglass. As there is no jury is present and this being simply a covid-19 issue, there would no concern for impact on the trier of fact by presence in the box.
2. Discussion still ongoing as to whether and who would wear masks, and whether same will be mandatory.
3. For jury trials, trying to configure jury boxes or jury seating to comply with adequate social distancing.
4. Jurists, court staff and or some of them may be offsite.
5. No direction yet whether jurists will have the option if wearing a mask or whether such will be mandatory.
6. Removal of lecterns from courtrooms so counsel can likely address court while seated and typing.
7. Vulnerable witnesses - conference room adjacent to courtroom 204 may be able to accommodate face to face examination of witnesses given room dimensions but will depend on judicial and other directions.
* (Installation of the plexiglass barriers took place on the 18th and the law library staff desks were included as part of this project) - Betty
Crown Assignments Week of June 22, 2020
Monday June 22
202P – Rob De Chellis Robert.DeChellis@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Michael Demczur Michael.Demczur@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Jeff Jeffrey.Costain1@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Sham Shambavi.Kumaresan@ontario.ca
Elissa Elissa.Kulpers@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Lesley Lesley.Pasquino@ontario.ca
Tuesday June 23
202P – Neil Singh Anil.Singh2@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Martin Martin.Dionne@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Greg Greg.J.Elder@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Gemma Gemma.Sang@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Amy Amy.Barkin@ontario.ca
Wednesday June 24
202P - Brad Bradley.Juriansz@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Erin Erin.Rizok2@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Michelle Michelle.Rumble@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Jacob Jacob.Wilson@ontario.ca
Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
Thursday June 25
202P – Ivana Ivana.Denisov@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Michael Demczur Michael.Demczur@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
Friday June 26
202P - Greg Greg.J.Elder@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Philip Philip.Hsiung@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Gemma Gemma.Sang@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
Courtroom Call In Information:
Tel. 416-212-8012 866-633-0848
100 Intake/Other matters #4942812
103 Bail #4674204
104 Bail #6532049
200 Remand/Plea #5467574
201 Remand/Plea #9851321
Sincerely,
Norman Panzica, York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
COVID-19: SCHEDULING OF FAMILY MATTERS IN THE ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
*This Notice supersedes previously announced notices. Effective Date: June 17, 2020
Also please note Newmarket has UFC.
Notice to the Profession and the Public re: Resumption of Criminal Trials and Preliminary Hearings in the Ontario Court of Justice as of July 6, 2020 (Published June 17, 2020)
Please be advised that the Ministry of the Attorney General is hosting a Courthouse Recovery information session with Dr. Michelle Murti, from Public Health Ontario, and Ron Kelusky, Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer, on Friday June 19, 2020 at 10 a.m.
You and members of your associations are welcome to join this session using the following link: Friday, June 19th from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
FOLA understands and appreciates that you have an interest in the health and safety measures being implemented at courthouses. In fact, many of you have reached out to us to see if you or a representative of your local law association can attend some of your local planned inspections. Unfortunately, FOLA has been told that, due to capacity issues, they are unable to include additional representatives at this time.
That being said, once completed, local assessments will be made widely available and FOLA will be providing you with a final copy of their report.
If you have any questions, please contact: Samantha Poisson at Samantha.Poisson@ontario.ca
Update On Court Reopening
As I indicated previously, no trials or preliminary hearings will be conducted until July 6, 2020 at the earliest. We are anticipating an updated pronouncement shortly to clarify the anticipated courthouse status with respect to addressing trials and preliminary hearings post July 6, 2020.
Tomorrow I, along with other stakeholder representatives, will be attending the Newmarket Courthouse for an in person update and view of physical changes and adjustments with respect to courthouse operations going forward. As I advised last week, similar steps were taken at the Brampton Courthouse last week.
Crown Assignments Week of June 15, 2020
Monday June 15
202P – Brad Bradley.Juriansz@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Ivana Ivana.Denisov@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Rob Scott Robert.Scott@ontario.ca
Tuesday June 16
202P – Rob de Chellis Robert.DeChellis@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Melissa Melissa.Henry@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Neil Anil.Singh2@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
Wednesday June 17
200 Court (judge) – Greg Greg.J.Elder@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Michelle Michelle.Rumble@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Jeff Jeffrey.Costain1@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Brian Brian.McCallion@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
Sham Shambavi.Kumaresan@ontario.ca
Thursday June 18
103 Bails - Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – LesleyLesley.Pasquino@ontario.ca
Friday June 19
202P - Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Jacob Jacob.Wilson@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Melissa Melissa.Henry@ontario.ca
Sincerely, Norman Panzica, York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
Effective June 15 - to support COVID-19 physical distancing protocols, our Personal Mortgage and Homeline Plan Payout team is introducing a digital alternative to a cheque or draft.
Lawyers can now contact the Payout Statement Phone Team (1-800-974-1163) to send a wire payment instead of mailing/dropping-off a cheque or draft
Lawyer Process:
The Payout Statement Phone team will provide lawyers with a password protected e-mail using Secure Webmail with:
The lawyer will need to reply via secured e-mail with the following documents:
We had a very positive meeting with the Ministry of Attorney General and Ministry of Consumer and Government Services staff on June 10, 2020 regarding virtual commissioning and virtual notarization. A copy of our written submissions are available on the FOLA website here.
Government of Canada news release
York Region Law Association 50 Eagle St W, 3rd Floor Newmarket ON L3Y 6B1 905-895-2018 / 1-866-221-8864