Title Insurance - Notary Public

When you buy a home using a mortgage or when you refinance it, the lender would normally require that a survey certificate be presented to them. The purpose of the survey is to formally establish the boundaries of the property and to ensure that all buildings are within those boundaries. A survey previously made by the seller may be acceptable to the lender if accompanied by the seller’s statutory declaration that no alterations have been made to the structures since the date of the survey. The existing survey must be tendered to the lender early enough to allow a new survey to be commissioned if the existing one does not satisfy the lender’s requirements. If the seller cannot provide a recent survey certificate, it will be the responsibility of the buyer to pay the surveyor’s fee. Alternatively, the lender may require the borrower to purchase Title Insurance.

What is title insurance?

Title insurance protects your ownership interest (i.e., title) of your property from losses incurred as a result of unknown title defects or other covered matters that exist at the time of your purchase, but are unknown to you at that time.

What does title insurance cover?

Title insurance provides coverage for, but not limited to:

someone else claiming an interest in your title
fraud, forgery and false impersonation affecting the validity of your title
existing liens against the title including realty tax arrears and municipal utility charges
violations of municipal zoning by-laws
many forms of encroachments onto the property or adjoining land
existing work orders
lack of legal access to the property
unmarketability of land due to adverse matters that an up-to-date Survey Certificate would have revealed

What is the premium?

Title insurance is available for a low premium that is paid only once at the time of closing. Your notary public will be able to provide you with a premium quote. Coverage is valid for the duration of ownership and the policy coverage amount is generally the amount you paid for your property.

What is not covered?

Please note the standard exclusions and exceptions from coverage normally contained in all title insurance policies. These include:

Title or other defects created, allowed, or agreed to by you
Title or other defects known to you but not the title insurance company prior to the policy date
Environmental matters
Native land claims
Matters that result in no loss to you
Matters disclosed in home inspection or building inspection reports obtained by you

Based on the searches performed by your notary public, there may be property specific exceptions added to your policy.