The term "condominium" refers to a form of real estate ownership. Condominium properties are self-governing communities. They have rules to regulate and guide their operation and business affairs and are governed by Ontario's Condominium Act, 1998.
The common expenses of the condominium project are divided between the owners of the suites. Typically, the calculation is based on the size of the suites (in square feet). Where the cost of heating the buildings is included as part of the condo fee, this calculation makes sense as there is more space to heat in larger units.
The developer hires a property management company to look after managing the condominium's property, common areas and service/maintenance needs. Once the condominium's governing board is established, the board is responsible for working with the property management company continue the upkeep of the property and common areas.
The reason the request for a letter comes seemingly early, is because construction takes several months (normally in excess of a year).
To finance the construction of a project, a developer may take out a loan. As part of their due dilligence to mitigate the risk of their loan, the lender will request for confirmation that a certain percentage of the suties are pre-sold and that the purchasers will have the funds required to close their deal. For this reason, the developer will request that purchasers supply some kind of letter from their lending financial institution to confirm that they have secured the funds required to take possession of the suite they have purchased. Normally, this is in the form of a pre-approval or firm approval letter. The developer's lender may have certain bits of information they require within the letter and as all lenders have their own versions of a pre-approval or firm approval letter, the developer may have to ask for some additional information. To limit this possibility, we have prepared a template within the "My Units" page for purchasers that have been setup with an account on our site. They are welcome to download our template and ask their lender to have it completed so as to ensure that all the necessary information is provided.
The key pieces of information that are required on the letters are the name of the lending financial institution and the amount being loaned. Where a mortgage broker is writting the letter, this information is especially important.
Upon request from the Developer for the confirmation of funds, a purchaser has 10 days to provide the information as per the Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS). The details around this are found under Schedule D, section D 7.1.
In Ontario, Tarion is the governing body that protects people who are building or purchasing new homes (including condominiums). Tarion warranties the construction of the homes and acts as a mediator between a purchaser and the builder should any dispute arise. On top of this, Tarion also covers up to $20,000.00 of any deposits made to a developer or builder by the purchaser. When purchasing a new home, a Tarion receipt is issued to ensure that the customer's purchase is protected by Tarion. We encourage our purchasers to learn more about Tarion from their website by following the link: https://www.tarion.com/about.
For details on how Urban Legend Developments ensures that any deposits over $20,000.00 is protected, please see the next FAQ topic.
The first $20,000.00 of a purchaser's deposits are covered by Tarion (see the FAQ topic above for more details). The balance is covered by the vendor taking out deposit protection insurance (DPI) from an insurance company. It is a requirement under the condominium act that a developer have deposit protection insurance to mitigate risk for purchasers. Urban Legend Developments has worked with Sovereign General Insurance to provide covereage for our purchasers. We encourage anyone interested to visit their website for more details https://www.sovereigninsurance.ca/Industries-and-Solutions/Residential-Surety
SALES
For sales related inquiries such as suite details, pricing and deposits, we suggest contacting our sales representatives at Condo Culture. They are available by:
Phone: 1-800-344-0901
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: https://www.condoculture.ca/locations
SUPPORT FOR PURCHASERS
After the cooling period has ended and a deal has gone firm, our Customer Experience Manager Travis Beatty would be happy to help. Travis's business hours are Mon. to Fri. from 8:30am - 5:00pm. He is available via:
Phone: 519-279-0170
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
When a user is setup with an account, all units are associated to that account and information about their units can be found in two ways. For a listing of all documents associated with your purchases, you can use the "My Documents" link found in the menu. This list will include a link to a downloadable version of your documents. Alternatively, you can access the "My Units" link within the main top menu and a list of all the units currently associated with your profile. Clicking on the text of one of the units in the list, will take you a "My Units" page that will provide information about your unit and include links to download associated documents such as the Agreement of Purchase and Sale or any amendments that were added.
If for any reason, a unit that you believe should be associated to your profile is not displayed as an option to select in the "My Units" list, please use the contact us form, the instant messaging client at the bottom of the screen or reach out to us by phone (numbers can be found on the contact us page). We will investigate and make any necessary corrections for you.