Kept in the Link
In any real estate purchase or sale one might think that it would be obvious that every person involved needs to be informed about what the steps are and who is involved. This means that the REALTORS®, the lawyers, the lender(s) and the buyer and seller all need to know about each other. Well the lenders really only need to be known by the party they servicing and the lawyers but the agents would be interested in knowing so that they can provide any needed information.
However, everyone needs to clearly know who the lawyers are. In Ontario, Canada, we do not have escrow services per say but everyone, or at least those that know enough to want to avoid problems, uses a lawyer to handle the closing procedures on both purchases and sales of any property. So I find it odd to have another case where a seller or purchaser has changed their lawyer without telling anyone.
I received a call from my client's lawyer the other day to inform me that the lawyer, that we had all been told was working for the other party, was not working for the other party. Luckily the closing on this home is a month away still, but this is the type of situation where problems occur.
In this situation everything is working out fine. I must stress again though, whether you are my client or not, if there are any changes that you make to the team of players that you have on your side of the transaction make sure that the other side is kept up to date on who is involved. A quick call to your agent to tell them to inform the other agent, or parties, is all that is required and it will save you a lot of grief. Do not rely on your new lawyer to introduce themselves to the other lawyer because it seems that they do not call them until they need something. Which is often too late if there are issues that need to be cleared up.
