The ten-day cooling-off period, and why freehold does not have one

Ontario's Condominium Act gives a buyer of a new condominium unit ten calendar days after receiving the agreement and the disclosure statement to rescind, for any reason, with a full deposit refund. Freehold homes — detached, semi, most townhomes — have no equivalent in law. Your only protection is a condition you negotiate: usually a lawyer-review condition of five to ten business days.

Either way, those days are for reading, and there is a lot to read.

What your lawyer is looking for

The deposit schedule and where the money goes. In trust or not; what Tarion covers.

Adjustments and caps. Section-by-section, what the builder can add on closing: development charges, education levies, parkland, Tarion enrolment, utility connections, tree planting, driveway paving, and more. The question is whether each is capped. An uncapped development-charge clause on a detached home can be worth $30,000 or more of exposure by closing. The exposure tool puts a number on it.

Assignment rights. Whether you can assign, what the fee is, whether the builder takes a share of any profit, and whether you can advertise the assignment.

Occupancy terms (condominium). The occupancy fee formula and whether you may rent the unit out during occupancy.

The Statement of Critical Dates in the Tarion addendum: tentative and firm closing dates, how much notice the builder must give to move them, and when delay compensation starts.

Material change and early termination. What lets the builder cancel the project, and what you get back if they do.

Upgrades and credits. Whether design-studio credits are use-it-or-lose-it, and when upgrades are paid.

What you can negotiate

Less than on a resale, more than most buyers try. Caps on levies are the most valuable and most commonly granted. Deposit timing can sometimes move. Assignment fees can be reduced or waived at launch. Ask in writing, during the review period, through your lawyer or agent.

The lawyer

Use one who does new-build closings routinely. The adjustments schedule on a builder agreement is nothing like a resale statement, and the person reading it should have seen a hundred of them.

After the period ends

The agreement is firm. From here the pre-construction timeline lays out every date to closing, and the buyer checklist tracks what has to happen along the way.