When you break your mortgage prior to the end of your agreed upon term (whether by selling or refinancing your property), there may be a penalty charged by your mortgage lender for breaking the mortgage early. Mortgage penalties are not standardized and each mortgage lender uses their own method for calculating the penalty for breaking your mortgage. This means that depending on who your mortgage is with, your penalty may vary when compared to another lender’s penalty. Some of the lenders have made their calculators user-friendly, while others have not.

Below are the links to the prepayment charge calculators from many of the mortgage lenders:

• B2B Bank
• Bank of Montreal
• CIBC
• First National Financial
• HSBC
• ING Direct
• Laurentian Bank
• National Bank of Canada
• Manulife Bank
• Royal Bank
• Scotiabank
• Street Capital Corporation
• TD Canada Trust

Please note that the information in the above links are for informational purposes only and I do not warrant nor represent the accuracy of the information therein.

1) Sell your house privately or through a real estate agent. If you are selling privately, the purchaser/buyer should submit the Agreement of Purchase and Sale to you for review, and you will in turn submit it to your lawyer for review.

2) If you haven't already signed an Agreement of Purchase and Sale, you or your real estate agent should make your Agreement of Purchase and Sale "Conditional Upon Lawyer's Review" and you should retain my services to review and advise of any amendments or revisions that I believe should be put into the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. If your Agreement of Purchase and Sale is not Conditional Upon Lawyer's Review, you should still have my office review it, albeit after the fact, to advise you of any problems that the I believe may occur.

3) If any chattels/fixtures that are being sold with the house are being financed (eg: appliances, hot water tank, tankless water heater), please note that they will have to be paid out from the proceeds of the sale unless they are negotiated in the sale price.

4) If you have an alarm service (or any other service) that is under contract, your should advise your real estate agent to negotiate with the purchasers to assume the service contract, failing which, you will have to pay the cancellation fees associated with cancelling the service contract early.

5) Once the deal is firm, you or your agent should fax a copy of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale to my office.

6) You should contact all service providers, including utility companies, and advise them of the sale date and new owners names.

My services include, but are not limited to:

• Advising on the Agreement of Purchase and Sale;
  
  
• Drafting the required legal documents that are necessary for the sale; and
  
  
• Ensuring the sale runs as smoothly as possible given your particular set of circumstances.
  
  

I shall require the following:

• Your most recent property tax bill prior to our meeting.
  
  
• A copy of your mortgage statement(s) and/or line of credit statement(s) prior to our meeting. This is required so that my office can order a Discharge Statement from your mortgage lender. Please note that upon discharge, mortgage lenders generally have the option to charge you (by tacking it onto your outstanding mortgage amount) the greater of a penalty of three months' interest or the interest rate differential ("IRD"). For more information on the IRD, please contact your lender.
  
  
• 3 of the following 4 pieces of identification: Drivers License, Passport, SIN and/or Birth Certificate to be brought to our meeting.
  
  
• A (set of) key(s) to the property to be brought to our meeting.
  
  
• Any survey that you agreed to remit to the purchasers.
  
  
• Any Tarion forms or other warranties that you agreed to remit to the purchasers.
  
  
• Alarm Codes, Garage Codes and mailbox keys.