Private Mortgage Lending in Ontario
Lending privately means you are the bank. The legal work decides whether you can act like one when something goes wrong.
We act for private lenders, mortgage investment corporations, mortgage syndicates, and mortgage administrators across Ontario on transactional lending work. Charge registration, document drafting, independent legal advice, funding through trust, discharge on payout. The work is technical, the timing is tight, and the documentation has to enforce. When it doesn't, the loan doesn't either.
What we handle.
Private mortgages enforce only as well as the documentation behind them. Our job is making sure they hold up.
- Drafting and reviewing loan and mortgage documents, including standard charge terms, promissory notes, guarantees, and assignment of rents
- Searching and confirming the borrower's title, including any prior charges, liens, or interests that affect priority
- Registering charges on title in Ontario's electronic land registration system with the priority required by the loan
- Independent legal advice for borrowers, guarantors, and non-borrowing spouses where required by the lender or by best practice
- Funding through our trust account on closing day with confirmation back to the lender
- Postponements, assumptions, amendments, partial discharges, and extensions over the life of the loan
- Discharging mortgages on title once the loan is repaid in full
- Coordinating with brokers, mortgage administrators, lender counsel, and borrower counsel to keep files moving
- Sending the lender a closing report with copies of every document filed for portfolio records
Bad documentation does not become a problem until you need it to work.
Private lenders lose priority because of registration timing. They lose enforcement rights because of missing or improperly executed ILA certificates. They lose money because of incorrect borrower information on the charge. The documents are the loan. Our job is to make sure none of that lands on you. For mortgage enforcement, default remedies, notices of sale, and power of sale proceedings, those matters are handled by Mariotti Law Group, our advisory practice. We refer enforcement files directly so the documentation counsel and the enforcement counsel are aligned and the lender does not have to brief outside counsel from scratch.
How a private mortgage funds.
Send us the deal
Loan summary, borrower information, property address, broker file. We open the file and start the title search, charge preparation, and ILA coordination where it applies.
We confirm title and prepare documents
Title search, charge preparation, ILA documents where needed, payout statements where the loan is refinancing existing security. We flag anything on title that affects priority before funds advance.
Sign and ILA
The borrower signs at our Erie Street office in Windsor, or remotely from anywhere in Ontario. Where independent legal advice is required, the borrower or guarantor meets with their own lawyer. The ILA certificate is in our hands before funds advance.
Fund and register
Funds advance through our trust account. The charge is registered on title with the priority the loan requires. The lender receives confirmation of registration and the closing report for the file.
Quoted by deal. Predictable across files.
Private lender files are quoted by transaction. We give you the number on the front end. For high-volume lenders, MICs, and administrators, we offer fee schedules that scale with file count and standardised documentation packages so the cost per file is predictable across your portfolio. The deal complexity drives the work, and the work drives the fee.
Discuss a fileRelated services.
Frequently asked questions.
A private mortgage is a mortgage funded by a non-institutional lender, such as an individual, a mortgage investment corporation (MIC), a mortgage syndicate, a mortgage administrator, or a family member. The legal mechanism is identical to a bank mortgage. The lender registers a charge on title to secure repayment of a loan. The differences are commercial. Private lenders typically offer shorter terms, higher rates, and more flexibility on borrower qualification, which makes them useful for bridge financing, non-conforming borrowers, and properties institutional lenders won't fund. Enforcement remedies in default are the same under Ontario's Mortgages Act, but the documentation matters more because there is no institutional template behind it.
Independent legal advice (ILA) is required or strongly recommended in several situations. Where a non-borrowing spouse signs a consent because the property is a matrimonial home. Where a guarantor signs without receiving a direct financial benefit from the loan. Where a co-borrower may be in a position of unequal bargaining power. Where the borrower's first language is not English or capacity may be raised later. Courts look hard at whether ILA was obtained when enforcement is challenged. Best practice is to require ILA from any guarantor or non-borrowing spouse on every file, and to require it from a borrower wherever there is any reason to think capacity, language, or undue influence could be raised against the loan later. Without ILA, an enforcement defence becomes available that should not have existed in the first place.
Through Ontario's electronic land registration system. The lender's lawyer prepares the charge document, registers it on title, and confirms registration to the lender. Priority is determined by the order of registration on title, so a private mortgage registered behind an existing first mortgage stands in second position. The charge can be registered as a Standard Charge Terms mortgage (referencing pre-registered terms) or with the full terms attached. Proper and timely registration is what gives the lender priority and enforcement rights. Improper or late registration is one of the most common reasons private lenders lose security.
Default opens up several remedies under Ontario's Mortgages Act, including notice of sale, power of sale proceedings, action for foreclosure, and receivership for commercial properties. Each has its own timeline, cost, and tactical considerations. Mortgage enforcement is handled by our advisory practice, Mariotti Law Group. We refer enforcement files directly so the documentation counsel and the enforcement counsel are aligned, which keeps the file moving without a handoff to outside counsel who has to rebuild context from scratch.
Yes, family lending is common, and the legal work is the same as any other private mortgage. The mortgage gets registered on title, the documentation has to make the terms enforceable, and independent legal advice for the borrower is strongly recommended because the relationship is non-arms-length. The Canada Revenue Agency expects family loans to charge interest at least at the prescribed rate, otherwise the loan can be characterised as a gift with different tax consequences, so coordinate with your accountant on the structure. Where the property is a matrimonial home, the borrower's spouse needs to consent to the charge even if they are not on title. Documenting a family loan properly protects the loan if anything ever goes wrong and protects the family relationship from ambiguity later.
Yes. We act for individual private lenders, mortgage syndicates, mortgage investment corporations (MICs), and mortgage administrators. For individual lenders and one-off deals, files are quoted by transaction. For high-volume lenders, MICs, and administrators, we offer fee schedules calibrated to file volume, standardised documentation packages, and a single point of contact for the portfolio so the cost per file is predictable. The legal work is the same regardless of the lender structure; the engagement model is what changes.
Send us the file.
Loan summary, borrower information, property address, broker file. We'll open the file and tell you what we need to fund the deal.