What value does a real estate lawyer add on top of title insurance? -

If title insurance already protects against: - survey errors - legal description errors - negligence - forgery - liens and negates the need for: - zoning compliance certificate - tax certificate - hydro/water/gas certificates - law society levy what value does a real estate lawyer add on top? Is it just for wading through the legalese in the Offer and the Agreement?

Depends on the transaction, if it s a refinance, I would tend to agree with you even though I don t understand what you mean by stating title insurance negates the need for tax and water certificate. I d also be cautious of the legal description errors. I had a situation in NY, purchase, where the deed to the property did not contain a legal description at all. the previous title company would not give us a letter of indemity for our title and then come to find out our title underwriter would not accept it, the original deed had to be found and re-recorded, no exception, so I guess it depends on what you mean by quot;errorsquot; On a purchase transaction, they usually add more value due to the purchase contracts and drafting of deeds, etc. To be bluntly honest, most attorneys usually dont even touch the file unless there is a major problem, their paralegals handle the day to day operations