What is a Title Search
In today’s busy real estate market, Law firms should use the services of a qualified freelance title searcher to do a title search instead of using in house staff. The legal assistants in a law firm are very busy and by hiring an experienced title searcher, it allows for a more of our experience and knowledge as a professional will provide a high Quality of service for your firm.
Who orders Title Searches?
- Lawyers and Paralegals
- Real Estate Investors
- Tax Sale Investors
- Banks and Financial institutions
- Mortgage Investors
- Private Investigators
- Private Individuals researching a particular property
Why should you do a Title Search?
- To confirm the ownership of the property or the land
- To check if there is any outstanding mortgages
- To check if there is any liens registered on the title
- To search the previous owners
- To do search before buying a property
- Finding hidden assets in case of litigation or divorce
What can you get with a Title Search?
- Name of the registered property owner
- List of mortgages registered on title
- List of liens registered on the title
- Tax lien information
- Writ of Execution
- Current and previous sales, transfers, etc…
- Any other documents registered on the title
We can also search the title to check if an individual owns real estate in Ontario. This is useful for finding hidden assets in case of litigation or divorce.
We also search the title for litigation research, process serving, tracing and searches of an investigative nature.
There are two types of searches in Ontario:
1. Electronic Searches.
Any property that is registered in the electronic database would be available for electronic searching. Most properties in large cities are available for electronic searching. This is the easiest and quickest method of obtaining a title search.
2. Manual Registry Searches.
There are still many properties that are not available for electronic searching. Many properties in small townships in Ontario may not be available. However, the list is always changing.
When a manual registry search is processed, an agent must physically go to a local Land Registry office to perform the manual registry search. This is the most expensive and time consuming method for title searching. Unfortunately, this is the only way of performing a title search for an unlisted property (Registry).
In most cases, we can perform a title search if you have one of the following in the order of (or) We may try alternative methods:
- You have a PIN number (Property Identification Number)
- You have the correct municipal address.
- You have the correct Owner Name and the City.
- You have the correct Legal Description.
WRITS OF EXECUTIONS SEARCHES
This search determines whether a person, corporation or other legal entity has a Writ of Execution filed against them which affects all lands owned by such person, corporation or other legal entity within the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s office and/or the land titles office wherein such writs are filed.
If you are buying real estate, you must do a Writ of Execution search for the current owner of the property. This is the only way to insure that there are no outstanding judgments that may affect the land.