Buyer's Toolkit Lawyer - Rhonda DAHMER

Besides the funds as your down payment for the purchase of your home, you will need funds for items such as legal fees and disbursements.
Disbursements are costs such as government fees that the buyer of a property must pay. As a convenience, the lawyer typically pays these costs and then recovers them from the buyer.

Below is a break down of cost for a typical real estate purchase.

lawyer Fee
are competitive and reflect the cost of the service they provide to close your home purchase. Typical fee ranges between $375.00 and $400.00.
Miscellaneous
cost incurred on behave of the client, including photocopying, postage, fax charges, file material, ect. add up to approximately $40.00 plus GST.
Title Searches, ect.
There are several costs incurred at the land titles office for title searches, computer access time, obtaining microfilm copies of documents, ect. The cost is normally $35.00 plus GST.
Couriers
Large amounts of monies, keys, title and mortgage documents, ect. A typical transaction will involve 5 to 7 couriers at a total average cost of approximately $35.00 plus GST.
Transfer Tax
This is payable to the government (land Titles office) at the time the title is registered. The tax is a percentage of the purchase price and different percentages are applied to each part of the price. Click below to see the scale to calculate the amount.

Manitoba Land transfer Tax Schedule
Registration Costs
Are also paid to the land titles office at the time of registration. The cost of registering a title is $70.00, and of registering a mortgage, if any, is approximately $75.00.

Property Taxes
Either the buyer or the seller for the respective mortgage holder, where applicable pays the annual tax bill to the City or Municipality. The paying party is then reimbursed by the other party by way of an adjustment to the purchase price.
The tax period for titled land is always the calander year, however in Winnipeg, taxes are due as of June 30, while rural arears the due date is usually in autumn.

So, for example, if you buy property in Winnipeg with a possession date of July 1, the tax bill will have been paid by the seller and you will have to reimburse the seller for your 6 month share.

If possession date occurs before the taxes are paid, the opposite happens - the seller will credit you for the seller's share of the year's taxes and then you will be responsible for payment of the entire bill.

Either way, the payment is made by " adjusting " the price up and down. In the end, you will pay taxes for only the part of the year that you had possession of the property.
TIPP
Another method taxes are paid in certain cities (Winnipeg and Brandon) is by the Tax Installment Payment Plan (TIPP). The property tax amount is divided into 12 monthly payments.
If the seller is paying taxes this way, you will usually (subject to your lender's requirements) have the option to carry on with the TIPP payments thereby eliminating the need for any substantial tax adjustment to be paid to the seller.

Survey Certificate
This document may be available from the seller. If a new one is required, most surveyors charge $400.00 plus GST.

Zoning Memorandum
This certificate is provided by the City or Municipal of offfice and the cost is approx. $35.00 plus GST.
Title Insurance
An alternative to the purchase of a Survey Certificate and Zoning Memorandum may be title insurance. The typical cost is $200.00.
Interest
If you are getting a new mortgage, the land transfer title processing time is such that the money under the mortgage will not be released until 2 to 4 weeks after possession. During this time, you must pay interest to the seller on the mortgage amount at the mortgage rate of interest. However, as the money has not yet been released by the lender, you save having to pay interest to the lender. In the end, this is not lost money, but merely a matter of "paying the left hand instead of the right".