Canada: Real Estate

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has resolved a critical uncertainty in construction law regarding how holdback deficiencies should be calculated when owners fail to retain statutory holdbacks. The decision addresses whether contractors who have already been paid can claim additional priority over construction mortgages, and establishes important boundaries to prevent double recovery while balancing the interests of all parties in the construction pyramid.

Can the CRA Deny a New Housing Rebate Even If You Actually Used the Property? Yes. A purchaser’s actual use of a newly acquired home does not, by itself, establish entitlement to the GST/HST New Housing Rebate.

A falling out, disagreement or dispute between co-owners of land can be stressful and confusing for those involved. Many co-owners may believe that they are effectively “stuck” in the co-ownership arrangement. In Ontario, this is often not the case.

The Competition Bureau of Canada has entered into a consent agreement with Empire Company Limited, parent of major grocery chains including Sobeys and Safeway, restricting the company's use of property controls that limit competition. This agreement prohibits Empire from enforcing certain restrictive covenants and exclusivity clauses that prevent other grocers from operating nearby, despite Empire's earlier voluntary commitments. The Bureau's action signals heightened regulatory scrutiny of property control

For manufacturers, finding the right property is often treated as a practical question of location, size, cost, transportation access, and room for equipment. Those factors matter, but they do not answer a more important question: whether the property can legally support the way the business operates today and the way it may need to operate tomorrow.

Ontario has launched its first call for expressions of interest in carbon capture and storage licences under the new Geologic Carbon Storage Act, targeting Crown-owned pore space beneath lakebeds surrounding the Ontario Peninsula. The detailed submission requirements reveal expectations that proponents have advanced well beyond initial planning stages, with the process serving as a critical test of Ontario's emerging CCS framework and its attractiveness to industry.

On February 27, 2018, a majority of the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Tax Court of Canada and decided that a new-home purchaser cannot claim the GST/HST New Housing Rebate if a co-signer of the purchase agreement doesn’t satisfy the rebate conditions—even if the co-signer held title as a bare trustee for the purchaser’s benefit.

When a purchaser fails to close on a real estate transaction, any deposit made towards the purchase will be automatically forfeited even where the seller suffered no loss. As a result, the purchaser may be losing out on tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

La Cour d'appel de l'Ontario a statué qu'un contrat de construction conclu en 2020 demeure régi par l'ancienne Loi sur le privilège dans l'industrie de la construction, malgré l'entrée en vigueur de la nouvelle Loi sur la construction en 2018. Cette décision soulève des questions cruciales pour les entrepreneurs et propriétaires sur les délais applicables et les droits de privilège dans les projets de longue haleine.