How to sell your home yourself in Toronto

Toronto is the only city in Canada that layers its own Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) on top of the Ontario provincial land transfer tax. On a $900,000 home the buyer pays roughly $16,475 in provincial tax and another $16,475 in MLTT, so their total land transfer bill is around $33,000 before any first-time buyer rebates. That is dead cash they cannot put toward the purchase price. Because of this, Toronto buyers price more conservatively than buyers in the rest of Ontario, and many need to factor the double hit into their maximum mortgage amount. As a seller, the practical takeaway is that your pricing has to be sharp: a home sitting $30,000 over market will often go nowhere, because the buyer cannot stretch the way they might in a city without the MLTT. Confirm the exact rates with the City of Toronto before quoting numbers to buyers, since the MLTT graduated rates for higher-value homes were updated on April 1, 2026.

Yes, and the lawyer's role here is more hands-on than people expect. Ontario law does not require you to use a real estate agent at any point, but only a lawyer licensed in Ontario can prepare and register the transfer of land, discharge your existing mortgage, and release the funds to you on closing day. Your lawyer should also review or draft your Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) before you sign anything, because the APS is a binding contract and mistakes in conditions, deposit terms, or closing dates are expensive to fix after the fact. Budget $1,500 to $2,500 in legal fees and disbursements on the seller side, though quotes vary. Retain a lawyer before you even list, so you are not scrambling when an offer arrives.

Not directly. REALTOR.ca and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) MLS only accept listings submitted by a licensed brokerage. The workaround most private sellers use is a flat-fee mere posting, sometimes called a mere listing: you pay a local brokerage a one-time flat fee, often between $200 and $500, and they post your home on MLS and REALTOR.ca. You keep full control of pricing, showings, and negotiation. Beyond MLS, reach buyers directly through Kijiji, Facebook Marketplace, and owner-focused platforms. Unlike REALTOR.ca, which only takes brokerage listings, Anyone.com offers an owner-run platform where you set the price, retain zero overhead from platform charges, and get buyer verification and flagged verified offers so you can focus your time on serious shoppers rather than tire-kickers.

A status certificate is a snapshot of a condo corporation's financial and legal health, and in Toronto every condo buyer's lawyer will demand one before going firm on an offer. The document covers the corporation's budget, reserve fund balance, any special assessments, pending litigation, and the rules affecting your unit. As the seller, you are responsible for ordering it, and the legislated fee is $100 including HST. The condo corporation has up to ten business days to deliver it, so order early; waiting until you have an offer in hand can stall the deal or cost you a buyer who does not want to wait. Once the certificate is delivered, the buyer has time to review it with their lawyer. If the reserve fund is underfunded or a large special assessment is coming, buyers may renegotiate or walk, so reviewing the certificate yourself before you list is smart.

Ontario imposes a legal duty to disclose latent defects, meaning hidden problems you know about that make the property dangerous or unfit to live in. Examples include a history of water infiltration behind finished walls, structural issues under a renovated floor, or concealed electrical work that does not meet code. You are not required to hunt for defects you do not know about, but if you know and stay silent, you can face a lawsuit after closing. The OREA Seller Property Information Statement (SPIS) is optional in Ontario; completing one is a judgment call you should discuss with your lawyer, since it creates a written record that cuts both ways. Patent defects, meaning things a buyer can see plainly during a showing, do not require separate disclosure. When in doubt, disclose and let the buyer's inspector assess it.

You are not legally required to offer a buyer's agent commission, but the decision is worth thinking through. Most active buyers in Toronto are working with a buyer's agent, and if you offer no commission, that agent may steer their client elsewhere or ask the buyer to pay out of pocket, which can reduce your pool of serious showings. A common approach for Toronto private sellers is to offer between 1.5 and 2.5 percent to a cooperating buyer's agent, which keeps the door open to that buyer pool while still saving the typical listing-side commission. Put the offered commission in writing in your listing details and in any APS you draft. If a buyer comes to you directly with no agent, you keep the full spread. There is no rule saying the rate has to match whatever a full-service brokerage would charge.

As of May 2026 the GTA average across all home types was about $1,069,700, with detached homes averaging roughly $1.36 million and condo apartments around $639,000 region-wide; inside the City of Toronto, the 416 condo average was about $649,330 in the first quarter of 2026 (TRREB data). The market has cooled, so homes were selling about 2% under asking and took on average around 42 days on market, with condos a touch slower. These are regional and segment averages, not a price for your specific unit, so anchor your list price to recent sold comparables in your own neighbourhood and property type rather than to the headline number.

Yes. Effective April 1, 2026, the City of Toronto added higher graduated MLTT tiers on the portion of a purchase price above $3 million, rising to 8.6% over $20 million, on homes with one or two single-family residences. The brackets up to $3 million are unchanged, so a typical $700,000 to $1.3 million sale is not affected by the new tiers. This is a buyer-paid tax, but it matters to you because it raises the all-in cost for buyers of higher-value homes, which can affect how aggressively they bid. Confirm the exact rates with the City of Toronto before quoting any numbers.

A lawyer is effectively required: under Ontario law only a lawyer licensed in the province can register the transfer of land, discharge your existing mortgage, and release funds on closing. You do not need a real estate agent at any point, but you do need the lawyer. Plan to budget roughly $1,500 to $2,500 in legal fees plus disbursements on the seller side, and get a quote up front since amounts vary. Retain the lawyer before you list so the Agreement of Purchase and Sale can be reviewed or drafted before you sign anything binding.

A status certificate is a snapshot of the condo corporation's financial and legal health, covering the budget, reserve fund, any special assessments, pending litigation, and the rules on your unit. In Toronto, the buyer's lawyer will require one before the buyer goes firm. As the seller you order and pay for it; the legislated fee is about $100 including HST, with extra cost for online or rush ordering. The corporation has up to ten business days to deliver it, so order it before you list rather than after an offer arrives. Reviewing it yourself first is wise, because an underfunded reserve or a looming special assessment can cause a buyer to renegotiate or walk.