Providing and accepting undertakings is a necessary part of a real estate practice that has inherent risks. In order to minimize this inherent risk, the practitioner should consider the following:

  • Don’t accept an undertaking that can’t be fulfilled
  • Honour your undertakings scrupulously
  • Follow-up on undertakings given and accepted
  • Confirm an undertaking in clear and unambiguous terms
  • If you don’t intend to accept personal responsibility, make that clear           
  • If you are unable or unwilling to honour a trust condition imposed by someone else immediately return the subject of the trust condition
  • Seek and provide documentation that your undertaking has been fulfilled          
  • Don’t accept an undertaking from staff or a corporation that is not a law corporation under the Legal Profession Act.

Minimize your risk when giving or accepting undertakings, consider the following tips:

  • Seek and provide verification that an undertaking has been fulfilled
  • Obtain client’s written authorization to release information relating to mortgage – i.e. mortgage numbers, mortgage name and address
  • Don’t accept an undertaking from anyone other than a lawyer
  • Don’t accept an undertaking that can’t be fulfilled
  • Honour your undertakings scrupulously
  • Follow-up on undertakings given and accepted
  • Post LRA – make sure mortgage release covers parent parcel as well as other parcels if applicable
  • Confirm particulars of parties names and recording references on releases before recording
  • Establish what happens if undertakings are unfulfilled within a specified time period
  • Diarize and time manage undertakings given and received
  • Don’t close a file unless all undertakings have been fulfilled

Resources

Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, Code of Professional Conduct [rule 5.1-6: Undertakings]

Practice Standards for Real Property Transactions in Nova Scotia