Real Estate
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March 22, 2024
Competition Bureau calls for consumer-driven banking and stress test reform
The Competition Bureau is recommending the adoption of a consumer-driven banking framework to reduce switching costs for consumers and increase competition in the banking sector, according to a release.
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March 22, 2024
Ontario Court of Appeal overturns $1M damages award for breach of real estate sale agreement
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned an award of $1 million in relation to the breach of a sale agreement for a home, finding that a trial judge erred by awarding the buyer the difference between the contract price and the market value of the property at the time of trial.
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March 22, 2024
Ottawa looks to reduce percentage of temporary residents to five per cent of population
Citing the need to “ramp things down,” in part to address Canada’s “affordability challenge” in such areas as housing, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government wants to stem the rapid growth in temporary residents by reducing their number over the next three years from 6.2 per cent of Canada’s population (2.5 million people in 2023) to five per cent.
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March 22, 2024
Arora Zbar LLP welcomes new associate
Vancouver business and real estate firm Arora Zbar LLP has announced that Dorfam Kheiri has joined as an associate. The firm said that Kheiri received her B.B.A from Capilano University and her Juris Doctor from University of Windsor. During her time at law school, she volunteered with Community Legal Aid and Law Students’ Legal Advice Program where she helped clients with criminal, employment, disability, and landlord-tenant issues.
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March 21, 2024
Does subject matter expertise matter? | Avril Hasselfield
The law is complex, with each area having its own nuances. It is in a client’s best interest to retain an experienced mediator to help them settle their disputes, but is it also necessary to have a mediator who is an expert in the subject matter being litigated?
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March 21, 2024
Ottawa cuts back on temporary foreign workers; reduces permitted percentage of ‘low wage’ workers
The federal government has announced it is “adjusting” its temporary foreign worker program which has experienced “a surge in demand” due to the post-pandemic economy, low unemployment rates, and record-high job vacancy rates in 2022.
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March 21, 2024
Electoral reform bill targets dark money, foreign interference, deep fakes, other AI misinformation
Ottawa’s proposed overhaul of the Canada Elections Act includes new false and misleading speech offences and administrative monetary penalties (AMPs); new and expanded prohibitions targeting foreign interference and the misuse of AI and deep fakes to fuel disinformation and voter suppression; and new third-party contribution rules the federal government says will “increase transparency and mitigate dark or foreign funds in Canada’s election system.”
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March 21, 2024
Alberta tribunal correctly adopted ‘broad and liberal interpretation’ of expropriation law: court
Alberta’s top court has upheld a decision by the province’s Land and Property Rights Tribunal (LPRT) which dealt with the issue of whether a franchisor who neither owns title to nor leases land can be an owner through possession or occupation of that land, or have an interest in it, under provincial expropriation legislation.
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March 21, 2024
Politicization of tribunal appointments worse than that of judicial appointments | Brian Cook
Recent moves by the current government to politicize the process of appointing judges have caused significant concern. The process for appointing adjudicators who sit on Ontario’s adjudicative tribunals is much worse. The government has been criticized for making political appointments to the committee responsible for making judicial appointment recommendations. There is no such committee, and virtually no other form of oversight for appointments to adjudicative tribunals.
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March 20, 2024
Alberta brings legislation to protect seniors in life-leasing contracts
The Government of Alberta has tabled legislative amendments aimed at ensuring consistency in contracts with housing operators involved in life-leasing for seniors.