The Ontario Real Estate Transaction Checklist Every Agent Should Be Running (and Handing Off)

Here's a test. Pick a file that's currently under an accepted offer. Now imagine you disappear for a week, no phone, no email. Does that deal survive?

If the honest answer is "no, because I'm the only one who knows what's due and when," you don't have a transaction process. You have a memory, and memories don't scale. That's the same problem we flagged in how to scale a real estate team: it works fine at low volume, and it breaks the moment volume goes up, because the thing holding the whole operation together is a person's recall on a Tuesday afternoon, not a system anyone else can pick up.

Real estate transactions in Ontario have enough hard deadlines, and enough real financial and legal consequences for missing them, that this isn't a nice-to-have fix. It's the difference between a file that closes cleanly and one that ends up in a lawyer's inbox with "fundamental breach" in the subject line. Below is a stage-by-stage walkthrough of what actually needs tracking on a typical resale or condo deal, with each item tagged by who should be doing it: the agent, a transaction coordinator or VA (virtual assistant, someone handling admin and coordination work without a real estate license), or the file lawyer.

Stage 1: Offer Accepted (Day 0)

The single highest-stakes item on the entire file happens here, and it happens fast. Under the standard OREA (Ontario Real Estate Association) purchase agreement, the deposit is typically due within 24 hours of acceptance, and Ontario courts read that deadline literally. In one case, a deposit delivered just two days late was found to be a fundamental breach of the contract. "Time is of the essence" isn't boilerplate language in these agreements, it's the operating rule.

• Agent: confirm deposit amount, method, and payee with the buyer's side immediately after acceptance.
• TC/VA: track delivery, confirm receipt, and flag the file the moment that 24-hour window is at risk.
• Lawyer: not typically involved at this exact moment, but should be looped in fast if delivery slips.

Stage 2: Conditional Period (roughly Days 1 to 10)

This is where financing and inspection conditions live. Financing conditions typically run 5 to 7 business days, sometimes negotiated up to 10. Inspection timelines are negotiable with no fixed standard in the market. Across both, the overall conditional period on a typical Ontario deal runs somewhere in the 3 to 10 business day range, but the only number that matters is what's written into this specific contract, not what's typical.

• Agent: negotiate condition wording and lengths, communicate with the other side on extensions.
• TC/VA: build the actual date-tracked list for this file (not a generic template) and send reminders as each date approaches.
• Lawyer: available for questions on financing or inspection condition language if something unusual comes up.

If it's a condo, this is also the point to trigger the status certificate request if the seller hasn't already provided one. Don't wait until conditions are waived to think about this one.

Stage 3: Status Certificate (condo deals only)

There's no fixed rule on who has to order this. Sellers traditionally request it after an accepted offer, though there's a real trend toward ordering it before listing so it's ready on day one. In fast-moving deals, agents or lawyers sometimes request it directly. Anyone can request it with a written request and the fee.

The condo corporation has 10 calendar days to produce it by law, or 2 to 3 business days if you pay an expedite fee (typically $50 to $135 on top). The total cost, including HST, is capped at $100 by law, and the buyer traditionally covers it.

• Agent: decide, with the seller, when the request goes in.
• TC/VA: submit the request, track the turnaround clock, chase if it's late.
• Lawyer: reviews the actual contents of the certificate. This is not a task to hand to a VA. Status certificates carry legal and financial detail (reserve fund health, pending litigation, bylaw changes) that needs a legal read, not an administrative check-off.

Stage 4: Conditions Waived

Get written confirmation for every condition waived, with a date stamp. This sounds like a formality until you need it later to prove exactly when the deal became firm, and that date is what the next stage's deadline math runs off of.

• Agent: obtains and confirms the waiver in writing.
• TC/VA: files it, dates it, updates the master timeline for the file.

Stage 5: Requisition Period

The requisition date is the deadline for the buyer to complete title and off-title searches (things like confirming lawful use, checking fire insurance eligibility, and looking for work orders or deficiency notices) and raise any objections before closing. On a typical file this sits somewhere between 5 and 10 days before closing, though on some deals it's set 30 or more days out.

Here's the part worth being straight about: the way this date interacts with when conditions are waived can shift the real deadline earlier or later than the date printed on the agreement, and getting that interaction wrong is a lawyer question, not a checklist question. If your file lawyer hasn't confirmed the actual working requisition deadline for this specific contract, don't assume the printed date is the one that governs.

• Agent: aware of the date, not the one interpreting it.
• TC/VA: tracks the printed date and flags it on the timeline, does not calculate around it.
• Lawyer: confirms the real deadline and handles any objections raised.

Stage 6: Pre-Closing and Closing Day

This stage is less standardized across the industry than the earlier ones, and most of what's published on it comes from law firms writing for their own closing process rather than a step-by-step agent checklist. At a general level, this is where the final walkthrough gets scheduled, possession timing gets confirmed with the other side, and documents and figures get forwarded to the lawyer's office for the actual closing. Treat the specifics here as file-by-file, and lean on your closing lawyer's own checklist rather than a generic one.

• Agent: confirms walkthrough and possession timing with the other agent.
• TC/VA: schedules the walkthrough, confirms movers or key handoff logistics if that's part of the file.
• Lawyer: handles the actual closing mechanics, funds, and registration.

Where the VA line actually sits

The reason every item above has an owner tag isn't busywork. In Ontario, a brokerage cannot pay someone to perform "trading in real estate" (a defined term covering the sale, purchase, listing, or offer/attempt to do any of those) unless that person is registered with RECO (the Real Estate Council of Ontario). Administrative and support work that sits outside that definition is fine for an unlicensed VA to handle, subject to normal employment law and whatever compliance policy your brokerage has in place.

What that looks like in practice on the stages above: tracking dates, submitting a status certificate request, filing a signed waiver, scheduling a walkthrough. General administrative categories, not trades in real estate.

One thing worth being upfront about: RECO doesn't publish an official task-by-task list of what an unlicensed assistant can and can't do. There's no document that says "scheduling is fine, sending offers isn't." The boundary is the definition of trading in real estate itself, applied to the specific task in front of you, not a checklist RECO hands out. If you're unsure whether a given task crosses that line, that's a conversation with your brokerage's compliance contact or RECO directly, not a guess. Nothing here is legal or regulatory advice, it's a starting framework for thinking about where the line generally sits.

Standing this up this week

You don't need software to start. Take one active file and write down, stage by stage, what's due, when, and who owns it, using the owner tags above as your sorting logic. Do that for two or three files and you'll already see the pattern: most of what eats your time is tracking and reminding, not negotiating or advising, and tracking and reminding is exactly the work that can move off your desk. That's the disappear-for-a-week test again. If the answer is still no after this week, you know exactly which stage broke it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a transaction coordinator and a real estate assistant in Ontario?

Honestly, the terms get used interchangeably across the industry, and there's no clean regulatory line separating the two titles. What actually matters isn't the job title, it's whether the specific work being done counts as "trading in real estate" under RECO's rules. Focus on the task, not the label, when deciding what an unlicensed person can do.

How many days after an accepted offer are conditions typically due in Ontario?

It varies by contract. Financing conditions commonly run 5 to 7 business days, sometimes negotiated up to 10. Inspection conditions are negotiable with no fixed market standard. Taken together, most conditional periods land somewhere between 3 and 10 business days, but only the specific dates written into that contract actually govern.

What should be on a pre-closing checklist for a resale home?

At a general level: confirming the final walkthrough, nailing down possession timing with the other side, and forwarding final documents and figures to the closing lawyer. Beyond that, closing-day specifics are genuinely file-dependent, and your lawyer's own closing checklist is the more reliable source than a generic one.

Who's responsible for ordering the status certificate on a condo deal?

There's no fixed rule. Sellers traditionally order it after an accepted offer, though ordering it before listing is increasingly common. In fast-moving deals, agents or lawyers sometimes request it directly. Anyone can request it with a written request and the fee, so it comes down to what this seller and agent agree on.

Can a VA handle transaction coordination tasks in Ontario, or does that require a licensed assistant?

An unlicensed VA can handle administrative and support work, things like tracking dates, filing signed documents, or requesting a status certificate, as long as it stays outside "trading in real estate." There's no official RECO task list confirming exactly where that line sits case by case, so anything unclear should go to your brokerage's compliance contact.

What happens if a firm deadline, like condition removal, gets missed?

Ontario contracts are read strictly on timing, and case law around deposit deadlines shows even short delays being treated as serious breaches. What specifically happens when a condition removal deadline is missed depends on the contract wording and the facts of that file. This is lawyer territory the same day it happens, not something to guess at.