LeClair Thibeault - Barristers & Solicitors

12/30/2024

For our Realtor and mortgage broker industry partners, be aware that effective January 1, the Rev Can holdbacks for non-resident property sales increase to either 35% or 60% of the gross sale price depending on the circumstances.

This holdback has absolute priority over mortgage payouts! Residency status MUST be resolved prior to listing of properties to ensure your clients will be able to satisfy the requirements. If not there can be significant consequences including not being able to close the deal. Current wait times for Rev Can are up to 3-6 months to obtain the required compliance letter.

12/12/2024

We know that there are a wide number of deserving agencies doing great work in this fantastic city. Again this year we are so happy to help out the great volunteers and people at Made by Momma – from our discussions with them this year the need is far exceeding the capacity of great organizations like them to reach all of the people that need assistance.

So Wednesday afternoon was the day for our now annual Christmas toy event. If you tried to reach us Wednesday, apologies but we closed our office early and our great staff and lawyers joined us to help purchase toys and gifts for families in need in Calgary.

And a special shoutout again this year to Mike and his team at Toys"R"Us Canada on MacLeod Trail S for their generous help in making this all come true. Their contribution allowed in terms of a volume discount and their help in manning tills for over an hour helped us to deliver close to $24,000 in toys and gifts.

Thank you again to all of our great clients, Realtors, mortgage brokers and industry professionals for all your support in 2024. From both Ron and Bill and all of our great team of lawyers and staff at LeClair Thibeault - Barristers & Solicitors have a wonderful Christmas - it truly is a small token of our appreciation for this wonderful City and Province.

10/19/2024

Hi everyone - to followup on my post and your comments, it is a huge increase - understand that technically it does return us to the charges back in the 1990s which were $1 per $1000. These haven't been raised in close to 30 years. It was announced in the spring budget and the government did hold off the increase through the summer months.

The point being raised here is that the banks are forcing people (in at least one lender's case) into "collateral" mortgages, sometimes at 125% of the purchase price and not at the actual amount borrowed. The lenders are NOT telling the clients what this is and simply pass the buck to lawyers to explain the lender's product to clients. Now with this change there can be real and significant economic costs to the client.

By the time lenders send instructions to lawyers and we meet with the clients it is too late to change things. Have your clients call myself, Bill or Shannon to discuss the issue if there any questions.

10/18/2024

Be aware that Alberta Land Titles fees are going up on October 20, 2024 from $2 per $5,000 to $5 per $5,000 not only for transfers but also mortgages.

Be aware that lenders are using what are called "collateral mortgages" which can be registered for either the amount you actually borrowed, the purchase price or upwards of 125% of the purchase price. They rarely tell you or explain this at all but the last 2 situations could significantly increase your costs at Land Titles. Clients need to know.

12/10/2023

The cart brigade of toys from our 2023 toy event for Made by Momma we did this Friday at Toys"R"Us Canada on MacLeod Trail S

12/10/2023

This past Friday our now annual Christmas toy event was in full swing. Again this year we closed our office early and our great staff and lawyers joined us to help purchase toys and gifts for families in need in Calgary. We are so happy to help out the great volunteers and people at Made by Momma who have already had so many requests for help in this challenging year.

A special shoutout to Mike and his team at Toys"R"Us Canada on MacLeod Trail S for their generous help in making this all come true. Their contribution allowed us to deliver over $21k in toys and gifts.

Thank you again to all of you for all your support in 2023. From both Bill and Ron and all of our great team at LeClair Thibeault - Barristers & Solicitors it is a small token of our appreciation for this wonderful City and Province.

05/11/2023

A complimentary copy of our latest newsletter discussing
1. BC transactions
2. Mortgage rate lock-ins
3. Powers of attorney
Call us with any questions you might have. Happy reading!

As a valued client of LeClair Thibeault we know that it is vital to keep you up-to-date on legal matters as they occur. Our newsletter, Legally Yours! is aimed at keeping you informed on issues that may affect you as a homeowner. In this Quarter's Legally Yours! you will find information on:

12/05/2022

This past Friday (Dec 2), we shut the office early and took all our LeClair Thibeault staff and lawyers out for our Christmas 2022 toy charity event and it was a great success!! This year, we again decided to work with the great people at Made by Momma who work tirelessly to give to Calgarians in need. We also want to thank all the great people at Toys"R"Us Canada and particularly the South Calgary location where Mike and all the great staff who dedicated time, tills and efforts to help us with this endeavour and whose generous discount allowed us to help out families in Calgary even more.

This year we focused on exceeding our "budget" and it was a success!!! Our original plan was exceeded by 33% to just under $20,000 – the tills were warmed up anyways so we figured why not! There are huge numbers of families and people this year struggling under the pressure of economic and personal hardships and helping our community is just not an option – all of us at LeClair Thibeault deeply believe it is our duty. It turns out this year Made by Momma has as many requests for assistance already that they did last year by December 20. Inflation and the economy are having a dreadful impact on people so helping out is a small thing we all can do - in whatever form that takes.

A special thank you to all the great people at Made by Momma who put in the tireless hours and work to ensure that this small contribution makes its way to families across Calgary and to their efforts in all the other ways they help our community.

From all of us here - do have a wonderful holiday season, we wish all the best this Christmas and we are thankful to be a small part of this great community.

12/10/2021

Our LeClair Thibeault Christmas 2021 toy charity event was a great success!! We are so pleased to have worked with the great people at Made by Momma and to have the help of our great staff picking out toys and gifts for families in need. A great excuse to take the afternoon off!

This year, the toy mountain we collected resulted in over 500 toys and gifts for people in our community. We are glad that we can give just a little back to the Calgary community that has treated us so well over the last 20 years. A big shout out to Stacey and all the staff at Toys"R"Us Canada who dedicated time, tills and staff to help us with this endeavour and whose generous discount allowed us to help out families in Calgary even more.

Thank you to everyone at Made by Momma for your dedication and hard work to make this time of year just a little better for families who are struggling. Your time and efforts are invaluable and are appreciated by us all.

07/23/2021

This news item highlights an issue here in Alberta as well. Homes that don't comply with registered restrictive covenants may be in jeopardy - rare but this articles highlights the risk. Your real estate lawyer should be checking these to ensure the home you are buying is in compliance with covenants. Some real estate lawyers specifically exclude these reviews from their work or don't do it at all so make sure to ask the necessary questions before hiring them.

The judge placed the blame squarely on the city, saying Patrick Molla was given no reason to believe his project would face problems

05/12/2021

With the craziness of multiple offers come situations where Buyers submit "unconditional" offers even though they intend to use a mortgage to help fund their purchase. There is a significant risk to doing that. Even though this refers to Ontario, the risk here and liability in Alberta are virtually the same.

Be wary of competing at all costs - you may just be the loser in the end and have a large liability if you ultimately aren't approved for the mortgage you need. You could still be on the hook. Just because you are "pre-approved" it does not mean you are formally approved yet.

In today’s hot real estate market, a buyer tempted to bid more than a home’s listing price should know the expensive risks of backing out of the deal

03/11/2021

This is a hilarious and awesome story involving Bill.

The last day Bill LeClair had his old wallet, a suspicious man had been poking around his office.