Real Estate Vocabulary
A thread on the BuzzBuzzHome forum inspired this week’s blog post. Buying a home and acquiring a mortgage is an exciting time, but it can also be quite confusing with all of the jargon that is thrown at the buyer. PDI? Interim Occupancy? Chattel? What?!?!
Here are some definitions for those sometimes confusing words.
APS – The Agreement of Purchase and Sale is the document that is used to state the Buyer’s desire to purchase the property, and to negotiate the terms of the sale.
Chattels – items inside a property that are moveable, which are not permanently attached to the unit or building. e.g. appliances
Common Elements is the areas or property in a condo building, where ownership is shared among all unit owners. Tarion fully explains the Common Elements here.
Condo Documents – the condo documents are provided by the builder at the time of the offer. The condo documents are to be reviewed within the 10 day cooling period. The condo docs include important information such as operating budget, condominium fees and by-laws.
Interim Occupancy – the period between occupancy and registering of the building. The purchaser is able to occupy their unit; however the title of the unit is in the name of the builder, as the building has not been registered. During this period, the tenant is responsible for the interim occupancy fee.
PDI – the pre-delivery inspection is the first opportunity the purchaser has to view their new home. The PDI allows the purchaser to thoroughly assess the condition of the home prior to taking possession. During a PDI, items that require the attention of the builder should be addressed on the PDI form, which is the official record of your home prior to occupancy.
Occupancy is frequently a word that needs to clearly be defined for many purchasers. With Tarion’s help, here are the definitions for the various Occupancy Dates that are found within your agreement:
The First Tentative Occupancy Date – The anticipated date that your condominium unit will be completed and ready for you to move in, as agreed upon by you and your builder. Your builder can set one or more Tentative Occupancy Dates.
Final Tentative Occupancy Date – If the current Tentative Occupancy Date cannot be met, a Final Tentative Occupancy Date must be set within 30 days of roof completion. If the Final Tentative Occupancy Date cannot be met, with 90 days written notice, the builder can extend the Occupancy Date one more time for up to 120 days by setting a Firm Occupancy Date.
Firm Occupancy Date – A date set by the builder with 90 days prior notice if an existing Tentative Occupancy Date cannot be met. This date may be set within 30 days of roof completion as an alternative to setting a Final Tentative Occupancy Date. The Firm Occupancy Date cannot occur after the outside Occupancy Date. Once a Firm Occupancy Date has been set, if your builder extends occupancy by setting a Delayed Occupancy Date, delayed occupancy compensation is payable to you.
The Outside Occupancy Date – This is the latest date that your builder agreed to provide you with occupancy of your condominium unit. You and your builder agree upon this date at the time of signing the purchase agreement.
For more info on Occupancy Dates, check out this guest blog on BuzzBuzzHome by Blaney McMurtry LLP. It explains the Ins and Outs of Occupancy.
Status Certificate – The Condo Chicks did a fantastic job of defining and explaining the status certificate in their blog post from Wednesday May 4th. A status certificate “is a legal document that outlines the current status of a condominium corporation as well as the individual legalities of the condo itself”. For more info on items that could be disclosed in the status certificate, check out the Condo Chicks blog.
Any other words that you find confusing? Or just need a little bit of clarification on? We`d be happy to help, just let us know on our Facebook page.
SigNature Developments