What Happens on Closing Day

On closing day you do almost nothing. Your lawyer and the seller's lawyer exchange money and register the transfer of title electronically through Teraview, Ontario's land registration system. When that registration goes through, the seller's lawyer authorizes the release of the keys and somebody calls you. That usually happens in the afternoon, not at nine in the morning, and the gap between the two is where most of the stress on closing day comes from.

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Closing on a place this fall and want a plain reading of what you actually owe and when? Book a call and we will walk the timeline with you before your lawyer's office does.

The real work happens the week before

By the time closing day arrives, everything that can be decided has been decided. In the seven to ten days ahead of it, roughly this happens.

Your lawyer receives mortgage instructions from your lender. This is the single most common source of delay, because the lender controls the timing and nobody else can move until the instructions land. Your lawyer searches title, orders the tax certificate, and on a condo, reviews the status certificate. You sign the mortgage documents and the transfer, usually in person, three to five days out. You deliver the balance of your down payment plus closing costs to your lawyer's trust account, and lawyers want certified funds or a bank draft, not an e-transfer that a bank may hold. You bind home insurance effective the closing date and send the binder to your lawyer, because no lender funds a mortgage on an uninsured property.

Your agent books the pre closing visit, which the standard OREA agreement gives buyers a right to. Use it. It is the only look you get at the property empty.

Closing day, hour by hour

Timing varies by lender, lawyer and file. If your agreement does not specify a closing time and no release deadline was inserted, the standard OREA form sets the release deadline at 6:00 p.m. on the closing date.

Why this is structured so awkwardly

The whole choreography exists to solve a simple problem: neither side wants to go first. You do not want to send half a million dollars to a stranger before you own the property. The seller does not want to hand over the property before the money lands. That is the classic simultaneous exchange problem, and law society undertakings are the workaround. The two lawyers put their professional licences behind promises to each other, which lets a transaction close in a sequence rather than a single instant.

It works, and it also means the process moves at the speed of its slowest participant, which is almost always the lender.

The money: a worked example

Take a Toronto West condo apartment at $616,629, which was the average price in that segment in July 2026 according to TRREB. Assume 20 per cent down and a $30,000 deposit already paid with the offer.

Land transfer tax calculated from the current Ontario and Toronto rate schedules. Price source: TRREB July 2026, released August 6, 2026. Legal fees are quoted by the firm, not a published statistic, so we are not going to invent a number for you. Ask three firms and compare what is included.

If this is your first home, Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of the provincial land transfer tax and Toronto refunds up to $4,475 of the municipal tax. On this purchase that is the full $8,475, taking the combined $17,615.16 down to $9,140.16. Your lawyer claims it at registration, so you never front the cash.

Three things worth reading before your closing date:

• Closing Costs Beyond the Down Payment: What Buyers Actually Pay
• What a Real Estate Lawyer Actually Does, and When to Call One
• Title Insurance vs Home Insurance: What Each One Actually Covers

Adjustments, the line nobody sees coming

Sellers often prepay things that run past the closing date. Property taxes, condo fees, sometimes a fuel tank. The statement of adjustments credits them back for the portion of the year you own the place. On a condo closing mid month with taxes paid to the end of the quarter, this is usually a few hundred dollars. On a house closing in early January where the seller prepaid the full year, it can be several thousand.

None of it is a surprise to your lawyer. It is a surprise to you, because the statement of adjustments typically arrives two or three days before closing. Ask for it early.

The interest adjustment date

Your mortgage payments almost never start on your closing date. They start on the first of the following month, or on whatever schedule you picked, and the lender charges you simple interest for the days in between. That is the interest adjustment date. It is not a fee and it is not a trick, it is just the cost of borrowing money for the days before your regular payment cycle begins. On a $493,303 mortgage at current rates, twelve stray days is a few hundred dollars. Closing on the 28th costs you less of it than closing on the 3rd.

What actually goes wrong

Lender funds arrive late. This is the big one, and it is almost always a paperwork issue at the lender rather than anything you or your lawyer did.

The seller has not moved out. The agreement entitles you to vacant possession, and your lawyer can hold back funds, but on the day itself you are standing in a driveway looking at somebody's couch.

Something is broken that was not broken at the showing. This is why the pre closing visit matters. Damage found before registration gives your lawyer leverage. Damage found after gives you a lawsuit.

Your funds are not cleared. Banks hold large transfers. Get the money to your lawyer earlier than you think you need to.

One caveat worth stating plainly: none of the above describes a new build. Pre construction closings run in two stages, interim occupancy first and final closing later, and the money, the timelines and the risks are different enough that reading this post as your guide to a new build closing would leave you unprepared.

So when do you get the keys

When registration completes, which on a normal file is somewhere between one and four in the afternoon. Book the movers for later in the day than feels comfortable, and do not book a locksmith, a cleaner and a furniture delivery in a tight sequence on the same afternoon. The one thing you cannot control on closing day is exactly when it happens.

If you are two weeks out and unsure whether the number your lawyer quoted matches what you actually owe, send us the agreement and the statement of adjustments. Book a call and we will read it line by line with you, flag anything that looks off, and tell you if it is fine, which most of the time it is.

Dave Dubbin
Real Estate Expert
Dave Dubbin & Associates
Real Estate Broker for Etobicoke and Toronto
Sotheby's International Realty, Canada