The Notary: The Real Estate Investor’s Ally

As a real estate investor, you must surround yourself with a team of qualified professionals to guide you through many daily tasks.

Your notary plays a very important role as one of these qualified professionals! For that matter, do you know when to contact your notary?

Your notary at all steps of a real estate purchase

Our team specializes in real estate law. This means that we are fully equipped to guide you through the various processes of real estate purchases.

In fact, it’s advisable to contact your notary before signing a promise to purchase. Why, you’ll ask? Well, it can help you prevent problems before you have made any legal or monetary commitments.

Your notary can:

• analyze and advise you on the intended offer to purchase;
• ensure that the certificate of location is up to date;
• verify the encroachment or non-compliance of the land with the City regulations;
• confirm vested rights;
• and much more!

More importantly, your notary is a neutral public officer. Furthermore, the law states that your notary must act as a disinterested, frank and honest advisor, regardless of who has chosen or paid them.

You can therefore trust that they will act with integrity!

What happens if you are two or more investors?

As soon as there are two or more investors buying a property, your notary will suggest signing an undivided co-ownership agreement (or at least a clause in the deed of sale).

The agreement protects you and sets out the rules for the purchase. It may provide for the owners’ share, administration of the building, payment terms, right of first refusal, and mediation and arbitration clauses.

When should you consult your notary?

In the process of buying a property, you must go to your notary twice:

1. To sign the mortgage deed
2. To sign the deed of sale

If there is one thing you should remember from this article, it’s that the buyer is normally responsible for the notary’s fee in a property transaction.

Your notary must publish the deed of sale in the Land Register and ensure that the sale is indexed before the buyer can release the cheque to the notary, who will release the cheque to the seller.

You may be thinking why can’t the buyer hand it over directly to the buyer? Well, the payment has to be handed over to the notary to avoid fraud, but also to protect you as the buyer. Your notary secures the funds until the date of the deed of sale, and then the amount is transferred to you.

If the process of real estate purchase is causing you a headache, don’t worry. Your Notary is here to guide you.