- For Condos (condo apartments or
condo townhouses)
A clause in the offer to purchase for the
vendor to provide a survey for a condo is NOT NEEDED since
condo plan surveys are ALWAYS on file in the land registry
system and are too bulky for dealing with copies in processing a sale
transaction.
- For Non-Condos (detached, semi,
link, freehold and street town homes)
Even though a purchaser might obtain title
insurance (which can eliminate the need for an up-to-date survey or
any survey), a clause in the offer to purchase which requires the
vendor to provide an existing survey is important since the
purchaser of a non-condo should obtain a survey copy for future reference
if the purchaser should ever want to consider location of lot boundaries
for the purposes of fence locations or for the purposes of an intended
addition or improvement to the property.
The survey copy is also useful to check
lot size, location of building on the lot, set backs, encroachments,
easements, etc. which can be reviewed by the purchaser’s lawyer when
doing the legal processing for the purchase.
The survey clause should NOT require
a vendor to provide an existing survey copy AND one which shows
all improvements to the property since 98% of survey copies
are ONLY the original builder foundation surveys which are
typically never updated when an owner adds decks, fences, patios,
inground pools, carports, garages, sheds, minor additions, etc. The
best survey clause to be inserted in an offer to purchase a residential
non-condo property is:
"Immediately upon acceptance, vendor will
provide purchaser’s lawyer with a legible copy of survey showing all structures.
Should a survey not be available or should such survey copy fail to be
legible, or fail to show surveyor’s name or survey date, or fail to show
all structures, purchaser will receive a credit in the statement of adjustments
on closing for $150.00 towards cost of title insurance policy". |
