For Realtors and Mortgage Brokers
Send us a file. Your client has a written quote within one business day.
Barbarian Law® is a one-lawyer transactional firm in Aurora that closes residential purchases, sales, refinances and private mortgages across York Region and the GTA. The fees are published, so you can quote them from the car. A purchase with one mortgage is $1,650 + HST, a sale is $1,500, a refinance is $1,250. The quote comes back in writing within one business day, a status call goes out before closing on every file, and your client is invoiced after the work is done. No retainer, no deposit.
This page is for the people who send the files: real estate agents, mortgage agents and brokers, and the referring lawyers and accountants who need a conveyancing lawyer who picks up the phone. It says what to send, what happens next, what it costs, and what slows a closing down.
What you get on every file
A referral is a loan of your reputation. These are the four things we do with it.
A written quote within one business day
Send the agreement and the closing date. Your client gets the flat fee, what it includes and what it doesn’t, in writing, before they instruct us. If the file is unusual, the quote says why and by how much.
A status call before closing
Before closing day, you hear from us whether or not anything is wrong: funds in, registration queued, keys at the door. The 4:59 p.m. phone call happens to agents who hear nothing. You will have heard.
Fees your client can check
Everything on this page is on barbarianlaw.ca/fees. The number you quote in the car is the number on the invoice, plus HST, land transfer tax and registration.
Rush files, taken and named
A closing inside five business days is a rush file. We take them. We quote them in writing as rush, so the client knows the premium is the timeline’s, not ours.
Sending us a file? Five things.
Email them to karim@barbarianlaw.ca with the property address in the subject line. Your client’s quote and intro email go out the same business day.
The agreement
The signed agreement of purchase and sale with every schedule, amendment and waiver. For a mortgage file, the commitment letter or the lender’s instructions.
The closing date and the property type
Freehold, condo, new build or private sale. A condo needs a status certificate; a new build needs the builder’s agreement reviewed; a private sale often needs a survey conversation.
Your client’s name, phone and email
Exactly as it appears on their government ID. Most closing-day delays we see start with a name that’s spelled one way on the agreement and another on the licence.
The lender and the broker
Who is funding the deal and who to call about it. If it’s a private lender, say so now: the paperwork and the timing are different.
Anything that’s already a problem
A tight closing, a separated spouse, a seller who lives outside Canada, a tenant, an estate. We’d rather hear it on day one than on the requisition date.
The fees you can quote
All prices exclude HST. Residential prices are all-in except land transfer tax, government registration and the Teranet fee, title insurance, a condominium status certificate and similar third-party items, which are passed through at cost and itemized. Full list on the fees page.
$1,650 + HST
Residential purchase including one mortgage. A cash purchase with no mortgage is $1,500.
$1,500 + HST
Including the discharge of the first mortgage. Each additional mortgage or line of credit discharged is $150; paying out other debts from the proceeds is quoted in writing.
$2,950 + HST
Both sides for the same client, closing together or apart.
$1,250 + HST
New first mortgage or a switch with new money, acting for the borrower and an institutional lender.
$1,250 / $1,400 + HST
Occupancy closing $1,250; final closing including one mortgage $1,400. Builder agreement review before the client signs, $350.
$500 / $750 + HST
Independent legal advice for a borrower signing with a private lender, $500. Independent legal representation, where we act for the borrower against the lender’s lawyer, $750.
$1,000 + HST
Title transfer between family members or into a corporation, $1,000. Stand-alone mortgage discharge, $1,000. Survivorship application after a death, quoted in writing.
$500 + HST
Ontario counsel on an interprovincial closing where the other lawyer runs the file.
From $2,500 + HST
Commercial purchase or sale under $1,000,000 from $2,500; $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 from $4,000. Lease review for a tenant $750. Quoted per file.
What happens between the referral and the keys
The same written sequence on a $400,000 condo and a $5,000,000 house. This is the purchase version; a sale or a refinance runs the same way with the documents swapped.
Day one: quote and intro email
Your client gets the written quote and an intro email listing what we need from them: two pieces of ID, the mortgage commitment or lender contact, the insurance binder naming the lender, where the down payment is coming from, and a void cheque. You’re copied so you know it went out.
Title search and the requisition letter
We search title and send our written objections, called requisitions, to the seller’s lawyer by the requisition date in the agreement. This is where liens, old mortgages, easements and boundary problems surface. If one needs a decision, you hear about it the same day.
Lender instructions and the mortgage documents
The lender’s instructions arrive, the charge is prepared, and the title insurance is ordered. On a private second, the lender’s lawyer prepares the charge and we act for your client only; funds are requested two business days before closing.
Signing, one or two days before closing
Your client signs at 14981 Yonge Street, upstairs, and we confirm the exact closing funds to bring or wire. Video signing is available for some documents; the ones that need a commissioner are done in the office.
The status call
Before closing day: funds in trust, lender’s advance confirmed, registration ready. If anything is short, you hear it now, not at 4:59.
Closing day
The transfer and the charge register, the seller’s lawyer releases the keys, and your client gets a call. The reporting letter and the invoice follow. Invoiced after, never before.
For mortgage brokers and agents
Most of the firm’s refinance and private-mortgage work arrives through a broker. Three things worth knowing before you send the first one.
What we handle
- Refinances and switches with new money, acting for the borrower and the institutional lender, $1,250 + HST.
- Private first and second mortgages. Independent legal advice $500; independent legal representation $750.
- Debt payouts from the proceeds, each quoted in writing before closing, with the payout statements in hand.
- Discharges, including the stand-alone discharge at $1,000 when a client has paid off a mortgage and nobody ever removed it from title.
- The lender’s own forms: solicitor’s declaration, the acknowledgment of standard charge terms, the consent to act for borrower and lender.
What slows a refinance down
- Home insurance that doesn’t name the new lender as payee. Ask for the updated binder when you ask for the commitment.
- A spouse on the matrimonial home who isn’t on title and hasn’t been told they’re signing a consent.
- Payout statements that arrive the day before closing, or a CRA debt the commitment requires paid with no statement at all.
- A private lender’s lawyer who won’t accept documents piecemeal. We send the package complete, which means we need the client’s documents complete.
- Rental water heaters and HVAC contracts registered on title that nobody mentioned.
The eight things that delay a closing
Every one of these is fixable on day one and expensive on day thirty. If you see one coming, mention it in the referral email.
A name that doesn’t match
The agreement says William, the licence says Jonathan. Title has to match the ID. One extra line in the referral avoids an amendment later.
A seller outside Canada
A non-resident seller triggers a clearance process with the CRA that can take weeks. Tell us at the start and the closing date can be set around it.
A separated spouse
A spouse who isn’t on title may still have to consent to the sale or the mortgage of a matrimonial home. Separated is not divorced.
The status certificate
On a condo, the ten-day review window starts when the certificate arrives, not when it’s ordered. Order it the day the deal firms up.
Insurance without the lender
The lender won’t fund until the policy names it as mortgagee. The binder should be in our inbox a week before closing.
Rental items on title
Water heaters, furnaces and water softeners under rental contracts. Some need an assumption agreement; some just need the account moved. We need the company and the account number.
A tenant in the house
Vacant possession or an assumed tenancy changes the undertakings, the adjustments and sometimes the lender’s view of the deal.
The APS that arrives two days out
We’ll close it. It’s quoted as rush, and it’s the file most likely to have one of the seven problems above with no time to fix it.
What your client will be asked for
The intro email lists these. If your client has them ready, the file moves at the speed of the lender, not the speed of the paperwork.
Purchase
Two pieces of ID each (one government photo ID); the mortgage commitment and the lender or broker contact; the home insurance binder naming the lender; the source of the down payment and a void cheque; on a condo, the status certificate; on a new build, the builder’s agreement and any HST rebate forms.
Sale
The latest statement for each mortgage and line of credit, with the lender and account number; the current tax bill and proof it’s paid; rental contracts (company and account); marital status, so we know whether a spousal consent is needed; country of residence; the new mailing address; two pieces of ID each; a void cheque for the proceeds.
Refinance
Two pieces of ID each and the lender’s ID verification form; the tax bill and proof of payment; a statement for each existing mortgage; an updated insurance policy naming the new lender; payout statements for each debt the commitment requires paid; marital status; a void cheque for the balance.
Questions agents and brokers ask
Do you pay referral fees?
No. The Law Society of Ontario’s rules prohibit a lawyer from paying a fee or giving any reward for a referral to anyone who isn’t a licensee. What you get instead is a file that closes on time, a client who was quoted accurately, and a status call before closing so you’re never the last to know.
Can my client get a quote in writing before they commit?
Yes. Send the agreement and the closing date and the quote comes back within one business day, in writing, with what’s included and what’s extra. There’s no retainer or deposit; your client is invoiced after closing.
Can you act for both the buyer and the seller?
No. Law Society rules bar a lawyer from acting for both sides of a transfer of title except in narrow cases, and we don’t take those. We will act for a buyer and their institutional lender on the same purchase, which is the usual arrangement, with the client’s written consent.
How fast can you close?
A closing inside five business days is a rush file and is quoted as one. Anything shorter depends on the lender’s turnaround more than ours. Call before you promise a date to your client.
Do you handle condos, new builds and private sales?
Yes to all three. Condos need the status certificate reviewed inside the ten-day window. New builds have an occupancy closing and a final closing, priced separately. A private sale without an agent usually needs more conversation about the agreement itself, which is billed as a review before it’s signed.
Do you do commercial purchases and leases?
Yes. Commercial purchases and sales are quoted per file, from $2,500 + HST under $1,000,000 and from $4,000 up to $5,000,000. A commercial lease review for a tenant is $750; drafting for a landlord from $1,500.
Where do signings happen, and when?
Upstairs at 14981 Yonge Street in Aurora, usually one or two days before closing. Office hours are Monday to Friday 8 to 4, Saturday 9 to 3 and Sunday 10 to 2. Some documents can be signed over video; those that need a commissioner are signed in person.
Will you tell me what’s going on with my client’s file?
With your client’s permission, yes, and most clients give it on day one. You’re copied on the intro email, you get the status call before closing, and you can call or text the direct line at any point in between.
Send the first one. Ideally the one closing on Friday.
Email the agreement and the closing date to karim@barbarianlaw.ca, or text the direct line. Your client has a written quote within one business day.
Fees shown are Barbarian Law® fees, exclusive of HST and third-party items, as published at barbarianlaw.ca/fees on the day you read this. Nothing on this page is legal advice to your client; the quote and the retainer are with them directly. Barbarian Law® is a registered trademark (TMA 1,359,734) of Karim Eshqoor, used under licence.