Category: Land Development

If you’re involved in buying or selling land, or any real estate, a good real estate lawyer is essential. We’ve provided contact details for several below. A good first question to ask is, “how local does my real estate lawyer need to be?”. In my opinion, you’re better off with a good real estate lawyer hundreds of miles away from the property you’re buying than an average lawyer in the vicinity. Unlike a surveyor, your lawyer doesn’t need to walk the lot. You want someone sharp on property law with good diligence for reviewing and submitting documents, and who responds promptly to your questions. I use the same real estate lawyer for all my deals, even though he’s often at the other end of the province from the properties I’m purchasing.

A real estate lawyer can help you with many tasks, including subdividing land, land migration, purchase and sale agreements, interpreting zoning bylaws and title searches. As we’ve written elsewhere, you can access title information through the Property Online land registry on your own, but a lawyer will have more expertise with the types of documents you’ll find there.  

The days of going in to the law office to sign documents are over, as those things can be done virtually from anywhere. Still, sometimes it’s nice to meet professionals in person, so we will summarize our list of Nova Scotia real estate lawyers by region. Recognizing some real estate lawyers will come and go with different firms, in most cases we’ve listed the real estate law firm rather than an individual.

If you’re looking for surveyors, developers, realtors or other professionals, please visit our Nova Scotia Land Development Guide.

  1. Annapolis Valley real estate lawyers:
  2. Central Nova Scotia real estate lawyers:
  3. Eastern Shore real estate lawyers:

     

  4. Halifax real estate lawyers:
  5. Musquodoboit Valley real estate lawyers:

     

  6. North Shore real estate lawyers:
  7. South shore real estate lawyers:

 

So, you’ve got some land – now what? It will take some time but we plan on building a comprehensive resource covering all the aspects of taking raw, vacant land and turning it into your dream home, cabin, or even a rental property. 

Topics will include land clearing, septic, water and power, excavation, permits and surveys. So, lot’s more to come! To begin, let’s acknowledge the range of professional services that you may need as you develop your property. Those include:

Realtors: for the initial land purchase

Surveyors: for establishing boundaries, and any changes such as subdividing a lot into multiple parcels

Excavation: including clearing land and installing driveways and laneways

Well Services: Most rural areas rely on drilled wells for the water supply

Lawyers: Useful for buying and selling real estate, establishing sale agreements, etc.

Builders: For construction of new buildings