Homes with a rental unit
When your house is also a rental property
The Town of Ajax now allows up to four homes on one property anywhere in town, with the right permits. More Ajax houses will have a tenant downstairs or in the back yard, and that changes what your estate documents need to cover.
The tenancy outlives the landlord
Under Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, “landlord” includes the owner’s heirs and personal representatives. If you die, the lease doesn’t end: your estate trustee becomes the landlord, collects the rent, handles repairs and must follow the Act’s rules if the house is to be sold with the unit empty. Your will should give the estate trustee power to manage and lease real estate, not just to sell it.
If you are alive but can’t manage
A stroke or a long hospital stay can leave rent uncollected and repairs undone. A continuing power of attorney for property lets the person you name deal with the tenant, the mortgage lender and the insurer, and keep the rental income flowing to pay the carrying costs. Without one, your spouse can’t automatically sign for you, even for a house you both live in, if it is in your name alone.
Who inherits the income
If one child is to receive the house, and the rent with it, while another receives other assets, the values won’t match unless the will says how to equalize them. If your spouse will need the rent to live on, the house may be better left to them, or held in a trust that pays them the income. These are the choices we work through at the instructions meeting, alongside the general rules on our wills and powers of attorney page.
How it works
Putting your will in place from Ajax
We have no Ajax office; everything is arranged by phone and email, and you come to our Toronto office once to sign.
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Step 1: A free 15-minute call
By phone, at a time you choose. We tell you which package fits, and you choose it in the quote form with the price shown before you book.
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Step 2: Your instructions
We go through your family, how the house is owned, any rental unit and lease, your mortgage, and your life insurance and registered plans. This is where the estate planning advice happens.
You provide
- Names of the people you want to appoint and benefit
- Copies of any lease for a rental unit
- Any marriage contract, separation agreement or support order
We handle
- Advice on estate trustee, guardian and attorney choices
- Checking for spousal and dependant claims
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Step 3: Review the drafts
We send plain-language drafts and go through them with you by phone or video before anything is signed.
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Step 4: Sign at our Toronto office, or at home if you need to
You sign with two witnesses at 3319 Sheppard Ave E. Where a medical or mobility reason makes the trip difficult, we come to your Ajax home or to hospital, such as Lakeridge Health’s Ajax Pickering Hospital.
Home or hospital visit: $500 + HST.
Why Wannes Law
A Toronto law firm that keeps you informed
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A licensed Ontario lawyer
Rosalie Wannes, licensed by the Law Society of Ontario, is responsible for your file from start to finish.
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Fees before you commit
Instant online quotes and published flat fees, so you know the cost before you retain us.
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Every step explained
Plain-language explanations of what happens, what you provide and what we handle, at every stage.
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Direct access
Reach your lawyer and law clerk directly by phone and email while your matter is underway.
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Sign in person or remotely
Meet at our Sheppard Ave E office in Toronto, or review documents by video and courier the originals.
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English, Armenian and Arabic
Talk through your matter in the language you are most comfortable with.
Durham Region
Probate for an Ajax estate goes to Oshawa
Ontario says a probate application is filed where the person lived. For Ajax, that is the Superior Court of Justice for Durham Region.
The Oshawa courthouse is at 150 Bond Street East, and the application can be filed by email. Estate administration tax is nil on the first $50,000 of the estate and $15 per $1,000 above that (as of 2026). If an Ajax house worth $950,000 with a $350,000 mortgage were the only asset, the tax would be $8,250, because a mortgage on real estate is deducted from its value. Money in an RRSP or life insurance paid to a named beneficiary, and property owned jointly with a right of survivorship, is not counted.
A house with tenants in an estate
Selling a house with tenants in it can take longer than selling an empty one, because ending a tenancy follows set notice rules. If a beneficiary wants to keep the house and the tenancy, a transfer to them may be simpler. Our Ajax probate page explains the application, and our Ajax real estate page covers selling a home, including for an estate.
Help for older relatives
If you are putting a power of attorney in place for an aging parent, the Region’s Age-Friendly Durham page links to a community resource guide for seniors and caregivers, covering the local services an attorney for personal care often has to arrange.
Fees
Flat fees for Ajax clients
A home or hospital visit in Ajax adds $500 + HST, only where a medical or mobility reason makes coming in difficult. The person making the will must have full mental capacity. Services in English, Armenian and Arabic. See all our legal fees.
Get your instant quoteQuestions
Ajax wills questions
I rent out my basement in Ajax. What happens to the tenant if I die?
The tenancy continues. Your estate trustee becomes the landlord, collects the rent and must follow the Residential Tenancies Act, including its rules on ending a tenancy if the house is sold.
Can my wife manage our rental unit if I have a stroke?
Only if she has authority. If the house is in your name alone, she needs a continuing power of attorney for property from you. If you own it jointly, she still needs one to sign for your share. Our power of attorney package is $500 + HST.
Should the house go to my spouse or to my children?
It depends on who needs the rental income and whether there are children from an earlier relationship. A trust that pays your spouse the income for life and then passes the house to your children is one option we discuss.
Where is probate filed for someone who lived in Ajax?
With the Superior Court of Justice for Durham Region, at 150 Bond Street East, Oshawa. The application can be filed by email.
Which package do most couples need?
Couples wills, $1,750 + HST: a will for each of you and both powers of attorney for each of you. See our will packages for the others.
Do I have to come to our office?
Once, to sign with the witnesses. The call, instructions and drafts can be done by phone, email and video. Home visits in Ajax are available for $500 + HST where a medical or mobility reason makes the trip difficult.
Areas We Serve
Wills across Durham Region and the GTA
We prepare wills for families in Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and across the GTA. For real estate and other services in Ajax, see our Ajax page.
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Scarborough
Wills & powers of attorney for Scarborough clients. Our office is on Sheppard Ave E.
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North York
Wills & powers of attorney for North York clients.
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Markham
Wills & powers of attorney for Markham clients.
Here to help
Decide who looks after the house, and the tenants.
Choose a package and see the price, or book a free 15-minute call first.
Prefer to talk now? Call (647) 707-7718 · Service in English, Armenian and Arabic