CALGARY- Planning to put a ‘For Sale’ sign on your front lawn? Before you do, it’s important to update your real property report—or you could get a surprise that will delay your sale.
The Real Property Report (RPR) is a record of everything built on your land, including decks, fences, air conditioning units, window wells and sheds.
Calgary’s Leah Robinson listed her old house, and discovered that a retaining wall that was installed 18 years before wasn’t on her RPR. That’s because at the time, the builder wasn’t required to register it on the property report—a rule that has since changed.
“It should be updated every time there’s a change to your property,” recommends John Tsimaras from City of Calgary Bylaw Review. “If you add a new fence, add a new structure, add an addition to your property, add a new deck that should be added to your RPR.”
Robinson had to pay $575 for city approvals, and $5000 of her property sale proceeds were held by lawyers for six months.
It can take up to three weeks to get a RPR from the city, and up to three months for city approval if there are any mistakes.
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