Amendments to Ontario's Record of Site Condition Regulation O. Reg. 153/04

The long anticipated amendments to Ontario Regulation 153/04 were quietly filed on December 29, 2009. Ontario Regulation 511/09 was published on E-Laws on December 30, 2009 and published in the Ontario Gazette on January 16, 2010.

The comment period for the draft amendments to O. Reg. 153/04 ended on February 10, 2009.  Since that date the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has been evaluating the numerous comments received. While there was much speculation on the final form of the amendments, and the date upon which the amendments were to come into effect, the filing of the amendments on December 29, 2009 came as somewhat of a surprise.

The amendments are both administrative and substantive. While a limited number of the administrative amendments to O. Reg. 153/04 are now in force as a result of the filing of O. Reg. 511/09, the balance of the amendments come into force and effect on three separate dates, being July 1, 2010, July 1, 2011 or the later of July 1, 2011 and the date the further amendments to the Environmental Protection Act related to Records of Site Condition come into force. The anticipated date of coming into force of these amendments to the Act is July 1, 2011. For the purposes of this summary, we assume that the majority of the amendments to O. Reg. 1253/04 will come into force on July 1, 2011.

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Increase Transfer Tax on Real Estate in Montréal, Province of Québec.

The City of Montreal has adopted a new by-law which, as of January 29, 2010, increases the duties for the transfer of an immovable situated within its territory. This new by-law will most likely have a significant impact on how present owners and new purchasers of affected properties structure their ownership and future acquisitions.

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HST: Trends in Value Added Taxation and its Role in Commercial Leasing

As of July 1, 2010, British Columbia and Ontario are replacing their respective provincial sales taxes and federal Goods and Services Tax with a single Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). There are a number of tax policy motivations for moving to a single consumption tax regime as well as some clear advantages for certain businesses. The new HST regime will also have an impact on commercial leasing and both tenants and landlords will be affected by this shift. Landlords should consider having their lease agreements reviewed to ensure that certain definitions and provisions are sufficiently broad to account for this impending move to a combined tax regime.

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The articles in this issue of the Real Estate & Urban Development at Gowlings newsletter have been written by professionals at Gowlings and contain general comments only, not legal advice.