Buying a home – Possession date
In the final blog regarding the purchase contract Ill touch on possession date. Again, this is a point of negotiation between seller and buyer. Quite often when a seller lists their home, the listing will include the sellers preferred date of possession (ie. 30 days, June.1, negotiable, etc….). When a buyer writes their offer, they may take this into consideration, but ultimately will want to put a date that is ideal for them. Once a date has been agreed upon by both parties, this will be the actual date that you take possession of the property. As per the terms of the contract, vacant possession will be made available at 12 noon on that day; meaning that both parties will have met and signed papers with the lawyer before this date, financing will have been arranged, and the property has been emptied, cleaned and vacated.
Now there are circumstances where possession is delayed. The most common I see is a a delay in the bank sending over the money to the lawyers. In this case, most often your lawyer will have the seller sign a form ahead of time, stating that you are still able to take possession of the property at that time, but only as a tenant. You will not in fact own the property and will be paying interest on it until the funds are actually received by the lawyer, at which point only then you become the new owner of the property. It is important to discuss with your lawyer the options ahead of time, should there be an unforseen delay in the possession of the property. I always recommend avoiding Friday possession dates (although these tend to be most common), as a delay on Friday would mean nothing will be resolved until Monday at the earliest – meaning you could be on the hook for interest for 2 extra days, or even worse be without a home for the weekend.
