Like any other insurance be it automotive or home insurance, title insurance protects you from certain damages. You pay a premium to a title insurer to protect yourself from damages arising as a result of problems with title to you property.
The premium for title insurance is usually paid only once and during a purchase of the property. A lawyer must order title insurance for you from a title insurer.
Title insurance policies can be issued in favour of both the buyer and the lender of money. Some lenders will require you to obtain title insurance in order for them to transfer money.
What does title insurance usually covers against?
Each policy will list the types of losses both “on-title” and “off-title” that a title insurance will protect you against and it will also list exclusions that the title insurance will not cover.
Some of the On-title matters:
- Conflicting ownership interests in the property;
- Any charge, lien or encumbrances on or other defect in the title;
- Unmarketability of title;
- Lack of a right of access to and from the property, if title to the insured property turns out to be different from that shown in the policy for whatever reason, including past fraud or forgery.
Off-title matters are those that are not reflected in the registered title to the property and can mean the following:
- Work orders;
- Zoning issues;
- Defects that would have been revealed by an up-to-date survey, including encroachments;
- Realty tax arrears.
Some of the exclusions that that title insurance does not cover can include:
- Problems that the purchaser agreed to accept;
- Certain government rights in the land;
- Certain expropriations;
- Environmental and conservation authority issues; and
- Native land issues.
How much does title insurance cost?
The answer to that depends on how much your property is.De Krupe Law uses Stewart Title and their premium calculator can be found here:
https://www.stepsonline.ca/Transaction/PremiumCalculator
Please keep in mind that De Krupe Law is not responsible for accuracy of the calculator, further Stewart Title has the right to change their premiums making the calculator obsolete.