Among the slew of insurance options that come with purchasing a new
home, you've likely come across the term "title insurance". But what
exactly is it - and is it worth forking over the extra money?
In a nutshell, "title" refers to your ownership of a property - so
"title insurance" protects both you ( the owner) and the lender against
loss resulting from title defects or fraud. While other types of
insurance may protect your home from things that may happen in the
future -such as fire or flooding - title insurance protects your home
from things that may have already happened, but weren't immediately
evident upon the purchase of your home. Some examples, as cited by title
insurance company, Stewart Title, include:
- someone else owns an interest in your title
- existing liens against the title
- violations of municipal zoning by-laws
- encroachments onto an adjoining property (other than fences and boundary walls)
- setback violations
- realty tax arrears
- outstanding municipal utility charges, provided such charges form a lien on title
- existing work orders
- lack of legal access to the property
- un-marketability of the land due to adverse matters that would have
been revealed by an up-to-date survey / RPR/ Building Location
Certificate
- fraud, forgery and false impersonation to the extent they affect the validity of title
Many homeowners find title insurance to be a worthwhile purchase because
it's a minimal one-time fee with no deductible, and stays in effect for
the amount of time you own the home. While title insurance is typically
acquired at the time a home is purchased, there are options available
to those home owners who are refinancing. For more information, give us a
call - or check out one of Canada's title insurance companies, such as
Stewart Title, First Canadian Title or Chicago Title Canada.
Thank you for the update; Many Home Owners who are refinancing are unaware that Title Insurance is available at the refi time.
ReplyDeleteGreat Info!
David Pylyp
Living in Toronto
Missing from the list of companies cited is TitlePLUS title insurance - the only all-Canadian title insurance company operating in the Canadian marketplace today. All others are branches of U.S.-based companies. In addition to providing coverage for the items listed by Ms. Berg in this very informative blog posting, TitlePLUS insurance also automatically covers the legal services provided by the lawyer doing the closing - at no additional cost. That's an important distinction and benefit that TitlePLUS insurance provides consumers.
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