Putting Conditions on Your Offer
Sometimes, an offer is made with certain stipulations. In these cases, clauses specifying that the offer is “conditional upon” or “subject to” a situation that must be met, is inserted into the contract.
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Subject to financing
You will purchase the home provided you receive financing from your mortgage provider. This clause protects you in case anything unexpected occurs in the financing process.
Subject to inspection
The home must pass a professional inspection before you buy it. The home inspection is your way of protecting yourself from the unknown; you are encouraged to include this condition.
Subject to legal review
Your lawyer must first be able to review and approve the contract, within a specified time limit.
Subject to survey
An up-to-date land survey must be provided or a new survey conducted, confirming that the property does not violate easements or right-of-way or encroach on any neighbouring property.
Subject to appraisal
The purchase depends upon an appraiser’s assessment that your offer price is reasonable and fair market value.
Subject to review and approval of condominium documents
You will receive important documents such as the constitution, declaration, by-laws, rules, operating budget, financial statement, and annual general meeting minutes, which you should review with your lawyer/notary. For a resale unit, you should also obtain the Estoppel or Status Certificate (often for a small fee), which tells you the common fees for that unit and the status of the seller’s payments. In Quebec, you obtain a mandate (proxy) from the co-owner (seller) allowing you access to the register. For new buildings, you obtain a disclosure statement instead.
Making your own conditions
You can also include your own requirements on the offer, like removal of garbage from the back yard. While you do want to use the conditions and requirements to protect yourself, beware of including too many in the offer — you could lose out to another bidder, or the seller may simply reject your offer.
As each condition is successfully met, both parties sign a waiver of the condition, indicating that it is no longer an obstacle to the fulfillment of the contract.
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