What is Title Insurance? Do I need it and is it expensive?
Title insurance is an insurance policy taken during the real estate purchase process to insure against defects to the title of the real estate. Title insurance is essential to many real estate transactions, protecting parties from mistakes or omissions in the title of a property, as well as fraudulent deeds, mortgages or liens.
It insures against such defects in title, which may occur from conflicting ownership claims, liens, undischarged mortgages, consents and the like. It will cover compliance and access issues i.e. work orders, permit violations, fences, boundaries, tenancies, rights of way, certain easements etc. It is supposed to be in force for as long as the purchaser or his/her heirs own the property. Title Insurance gives assurance of good title and reduces the number of searches and expenses you will have to pay when you purchase.Title Insurance is used now for most Ontario real estate transactions. Most lenders are more comfortable with lending where title insurance is obtained and some lenders have preferences for who is to provide the insurance. Having title insurance will sometimes satisfy lenders that a survey is not necessary and many lawyers will charge more if title insurance is not purchased. Title insurance costs about 350. for a 500,000 home. Any cost presented here is only a ROUGH estim
