Key Takeaways
- Don’t book movers or line up tenant move-ins for closing day itself, funding delays happen more often than you’d think
- A pre-possession walkthrough with your realtor is a non-negotiable step before closing
- Sellers must provide a Real Property Report (RPR) with municipal compliance, missing this can delay or hold back closing
- Undisclosed caveats, restrictive covenants, or pending title registrations can derail a closing at the last minute
- Ending a month-to-month tenancy for a sale requires three calendar months notice, not 90 days
- Incomplete or unsatisfactory repairs before closing can trigger delays or holdbacks
- Get insurance quotes during your conditional period, not after you’ve waved conditions
- Non-standard properties (poly-B, knob and tube wiring, unlegalized suites, solar panels) can narrow your lender and insurer options fast
- Cash back for repairs isn’t allowed on a mortgage, a price reduction or purchase plus improvements are the compliant alternatives
Closing day should be simple: funds move, keys change hands, and everyone goes their separate way. In practice, a surprising number of deals hit turbulence in the final stretch. Whether you’re buying or selling in Calgary, most of these issues are avoidable if you know where they come from. Here’s what we’ve seen trip up buyers and sellers, and how to get ahead of it.
Don’t Schedule Movers or Move-Ins for Closing Day
It’s tempting to book your moving truck or have a tenant ready to move in the same day you close. We recommend against it.
“Sometimes on closing day lenders are late to advance funds.” — Santhosh Nathan.
When mortgage funds arrive late, they don’t reach the seller’s lawyer on time, which can push closing later in the day or even into the next day. If you’ve already committed movers or tenants to that exact date, you could end up paying your movers twice or scrambling to house a tenant who technically can’t take possession yet. Build in a buffer day whenever you can.
Do a Pre-Possession Walkthrough
If you’re buying, bring your realtor back to the property before closing for a pre-possession walkthrough. This step confirms the home is in substantially the same condition as when you viewed it, and that everything you negotiated to stay (appliances, shed, other attached goods) is still there. It’s also your chance to check under sinks and in bathrooms for leaks, and confirm the heat is running, especially important if the property has sat vacant or through a cold stretch. Skipping this step means any problems become your problem the moment you take possession.
Real Property Reports and Municipal Compliance
Sellers are contractually required to provide a Real Property Report (An RPR is a legal document that shows the location of significant improvements on a property, such as the house, fences, and sheds, relative to the property boundaries) with municipal compliance at closing. The City of Calgary won’t stamp an RPR as compliant when there are issues like encroachments or a neighbour’s fence sitting over the property line. If a seller can’t produce a compliant RPR, closing can be delayed, or the lawyers may apply a a holdback (A holdback is an amount of money withheld from the sale proceeds until an outstanding issue, like a non-compliant RPR, is resolved), depending on how serious the issue is.
Undisclosed Caveats, Covenants, and Pending Registrations
Caveats on title or restrictive covenants that weren’t disclosed upfront are another common source of delay, along with pending registrations, such as a title transfer to an executor, that a seller knows about but hasn’t flagged. If you’re selling and you’re aware of anything pending on title, tell your realtor, lender, and lawyer as early as possible. The goal is to avoid surprises, and closing day is the worst possible time for one to surface.
Tenant Notice Periods When Selling
If you’re buying a property expecting vacant possession that had tenants in it when you viewed it, confirm with your realtor that proper notice has actually been served. This is normally part of your buyer’s realtor’s due diligence, but it’s worth double-checking.
If you’re the seller with tenants in place, a fixed-term lease generally can’t be broken early unless it’s ending on its own or you negotiate a cash-for-keys arrangement. For a month-to-month tenancy, a sale is a valid reason to end the tenancy, but the required notice is three calendar months, not 90 days. These aren’t the same thing, and giving improper notice can leave tenants with the right to stay put, and the seller on the hook for damages if the buyer doesn’t get vacant possession as promised.
Outstanding or Unsatisfactory Repairs
When a seller agrees to complete repairs before closing and they aren’t finished to a satisfactory standard, that can delay closing or trigger a holdback. Follow up on agreed repairs during the period between going firm and closing, and verify the work during your pre-possession walkthrough. Our best practice: any agreed repairs should come with proof of completion, and the work should be done by a certified or licensed professional, especially for trade-specific repairs.
Get Insurance Quotes Early
Always get insurance quotes during your conditional or due diligence period, before you waive conditions. We’ve seen buyers wave conditions, go get insurance quotes, and discover an insurer won’t touch the property because of poly-B plumbing or knob and tube wiring, or that the premium is far higher than expected. By then, it’s too late to walk away.
Unexpected Events Before Closing
Hail damage, water leaks, or fire between condition removal and closing day can also push a closing back. In these cases, the seller typically has to initiate an insurance claim, and the buyer’s and seller’s lawyers negotiate next steps. Expect delays here, this kind of negotiation takes time to sort out properly.
Financing Challenges on Non-Standard Properties
“In Alberta, that’s become a pretty big issue. So, get ahead of the insurance.” — Layne Walters.
Insurance and lending issues have become more common in Alberta. A single issue, like an unlegalized backyard suite, is often manageable on its own. Combine it with poly-B plumbing and solar panels, though, and your options narrow fast. Some lenders are comfortable with rental properties but not backyard suites; some insurers are fine with solar but won’t touch knob and tube or aluminum wiring. Stack enough of these together and it can be hard to find a lender or insurer willing to do all of it. If your property isn’t a cookie-cutter house, get ahead of financing and insurance early.
Price Reductions vs. Cash Back
It’s common for something to come up between waiving conditions and closing, say, a home inspection flags a furnace that needs replacing. Realtors will often negotiate a price reduction or a cash-back arrangement to cover it. The important distinction: cash back isn’t allowed on a mortgage. It has to be structured as an actual price reduction, which takes time to redo the paperwork, or as a purchase plus improvements arrangement, which builds the cost into the mortgage itself.
The reason cash back doesn’t fly is that on a high-ratio mortgage, a lender has no way to confirm with certainty that the cash back will actually go toward the repair, which would effectively mean lending above the allowed loan-to-value. With purchase plus improvements, you can cover the repair upfront (a credit card, for example) and get reimbursed, without putting your closing at risk over an unapproved cash-back arrangement.
Most of what derails a closing comes down to the same root cause: something wasn’t disclosed, verified, or timed properly. A pre-possession walkthrough, early insurance quotes, and clear communication between your realtor, lender, and lawyer solve the vast majority of these issues before they become a problem. Have you run into a closing day issue of your own? Let us know in the comments, and reach out if you want help getting ahead of one before it happens.
