What's different about buying a condo or a pre-construction home in Ontario?

A status certificate is a package the condo corporation provides about its finances, rules, and money owing on the unit. The corporation must deliver it within 10 days of a request, for a fee capped at $100 including tax. Your lawyer checks it for red flags, like a low reserve fund or a lawsuit against the corporation. Get it reviewed early.

Buying a new condo unit directly from a builder gives you 10 calendar days from receiving the full disclosure package to cancel for any reason, no explanation needed. The clock starts once you've received the agreement, disclosure statement, and condo guide, whichever is last. Cancel in writing and the builder must refund your deposit in full. Ontario has passed a law giving buyers of new freehold homes a similar 10-day cooling-off period, but it isn't in force yet (as of September 2026).

With pre-construction condos, you often move in before the building is legally registered, called interim occupancy. You pay monthly fees covering estimated taxes, common expenses, and interest on the unpaid balance, but you don't hold title yet. Final closing, when you take ownership, happens once the building registers.

Tarion protects new home deposits up to set limits (as of 2026): freehold homes up to $60,000, or 10% of the price to $100,000 over $600,000; condo units up to $20,000. For now (September 2026), registering with Tarion doesn't change your deposit coverage: Tarion has deferred that effect to January 1, 2027. From then, freehold buyers need to have registered their purchase within 45 days of signing to keep the maximum coverage. Tarion has asked freehold buyers to register since April 1, 2026, so it's worth doing now. The registration requirement doesn't apply to condo purchases.

An assignment is selling your right to buy a pre-construction unit to someone else before your own closing. It needs the builder's consent, has its own tax rules, and both sides need their own lawyer.