Law of the Land

Recent Posts from Law of the Land

• Court of Appeal clarifies the law on prescriptive rights

  There was an interesting recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision (Kaminskas v. Storm (2009), 95 O.R. (3d) 387) for those lawyers, like the writer, who developed his practice approaches at a time when most of…

• Lang Michener LLP lawyers remain the leading experts on title insurance in Canada

  Bruce McKenna, with significant assistance from Matthew German and Bob Fraser, has completely redrafted the title insurance sections of the CCH Ontario Real Estate Law Guide published by CCH Canada. These are the title insurance…

• The Declining Importance of Tender in Transaction Disputes

  Canadian courts continue to erode the traditional common law requirement that a non-defaulting party demonstrate its absolute willingness and ability to close a real estate transaction when responding to the default of the other party.…

• Landlord's Termination Right in Lieu of Granting Consent to Sublease, Etc.

  Almost all commercial leases will restrict a tenant from assigning, subleasing or otherwise dealing with its lease without the consent of the landlord, with the landlord generally agreeing to not unreasonably withhold such consent. It…

• The Purchaser's Right to Rescind: Easements Materially Affecting Use

  Typical language in an agreement of purchase and sale provides that the purchaser agrees to accept title “subject to any easements for sewers, drainage, public utilities, phone or cable lines or other services that do…

• Principal's Liability for Acts of Agents

  There are some special rules governing the liability of a principal who has an agent acting on their behalf to sign contracts. The rules are different depending upon whether the party dealing with the agent…

• Title Insurers' Duty to Defend An Important Aid With Property Litigation Costs

  A recently reported case Hanis v. Teevan, 92 O.R. (3rd) 594 is an October 2008 Court of Appeal decision that examined the "duty to defend" obligations under two general liability insurance policies. Dr. Hanis was…

• Notices of Renewal and the Doctrine of Waiver: Case Comment on 1651788 Ontario Inc. v. 1628093 Ontario Inc.

  Under the legal doctrine of waiver, a landlord’s failure to insist upon a tenant’s compliance with certain conditions of the lease may lead to the landlord being precluded from asserting that such original conditions are…

• Assignability of rights of first refusal granted under a lease

  A right of first refusal under a lease is a contractual right that gives the tenant the right to match any third party offer if the landlord chooses to sell the property. A right of…

• Judicial Interpretation of "completely carefree net lease"

  The intent of a "net" lease is to shift responsibility for the payment of expenses under the lease to the tenant. However, the case law has fairly consistently required landlords to specify particular expenses in…