Fellow Realtors

With the changes to the REBBA, each of our brokerages is faced with meeting the new requirements without a standard format.  In order to provide co-operating brokerages fair treatment when presenting an Offer on one of the properties I have listed, I am including the clauses that are required in any Offer my Sellers would be willing to accept.  I know that many of the clauses below are repetitive and used by many of us already but the "Deposit Clause" as shown below is new.  This clause in particular must be included in any Offer presented on one of my listings.  Our brokerage requires it as mandatory.

The clauses that are applicable can be cut and pasted in your Agreement of Purchase and Sale:

The deposit holder advises that the deposit for this transaction (the deposit) shall be placed in a specially designated real estate trust account over which the Broker of Record shall have the sole signing authority. Once deposited, funds shall only be withdrawn upon successful completion of this transaction, by express mutual consent by all parties, by court order, or in accordance with relative legislation. The real estate trust account attracts interest at a variable rate, calculated using the Bank of Canada prime rate, minus 2.75% on aggregate deposits of less than one million dollars and minus 2.25% on deposits over one million dollars. Interest is not calculated or paid on a deposit by deposit basis, and all interest funds are substantially diminished by associated bank service charges and handling costs. Accordingly, any interest earned by "the deposit" as part of the aggregate trust deposit shall be retained by the deposit holder and shall not be credited to either the Buyer or Seller.

Buyer and Seller acknowledge that information about agency and real estate relationships have been explained to them prior to entering into this Agreement of Purchase and Sale and that they have independently completed a Confirmation of Representation form selecting the type of representation they wish to have.

For all purposes of this Agreement, the terms "banking days" or "business days" shall mean any day, other than a Saturday, Sunday or statutory holiday in the Province of Ontario.

The Buyer and Seller agree that the transmission of offers, counter offers and other documents relative thereto, may be communicated by facsimile and each party agrees to accept the other's facsimiles of documents. The Buyer and Seller agree to treat said documents in the same manner as if the documents transmitted were original documents, and shall deliver original documents wherever practical afterwards. Provided that, if the destination facsimile is that of a real estate agent, all facsimile communications shall be noted for the attention of the other party's sales representative by name.

The parties acknowledge that information provided by any real estate agent shall not be construed as expert legal, tax, construction or structural, or environmental advice.

Buyer and Seller acknowledge that the Province of Ontario has implemented a current value assessment system which provides for reassessment of the property from time-to-time. The parties agree that no claim will be made against the Buyer, Seller, or any real estate agent for any changes in property taxes which arise from reassessment of the property.

Seller represents that the property is not subject to any Local Improvement Charges, or Special Charges, and that the Seller has not received any notification of future charges which may affect the property. That portion of any such charges which may be outstanding or levied in respect of the property shall be adjusted in favour of the Buyer upon completion of this transaction.

Unless otherwise stated in the Agreement, Seller represents and warrants that the chattels (if any) and fixtures included in the Purchase Price are now, and shall be upon the completion date, in working order. This warranty shall not merge upon closing, but shall only apply to the operability of any such chattels and fixtures on the completion date.