Partners Jim Davidson and Paul Cahill Present at the Ontario Bar Association

When title insurance was first introduced into Canadian residential conveyancing in the mid-1990’s it was considered prohibitively expensive. Purchasers were funding legal fees and disbursements; inspection fees; transfer taxes; mortgage default insurance; and various other “Closing Costs”. Adding title insurance premium seemed unnecessary. The title insurers worked on this problem. The first thing they did was to add “Survey Coverage” alleviating the need to obtain a Land Survey which then cost roughly $1,000. I’ll have more to say on Survey Coverage in another Commentary. Succinctly – great coverage for Lenders, but whether right for Owners depends on many circumstances.