Present Use Clause

While you may leave the present use clause (clause 8) in the offer blank, it is best practice to fill it in. For example, you may have a buyer who wants to make an offer on a property with a basement apartment. The buyer wants to live on the main floor and rent out the basement, which is currently tenanted, to help cover the mortgage. If you leave the present use clause blank, or fill in the standard “single family residential”, your buyer’s lawyer will have no way of knowing that the property is presently being used as a duplex or multi family dwelling and will not check to determine if that use may be lawfully continued. This could result in your buyer closing on the property, assuming the tenant, and then getting a knock on the door from the Municipality who tells your buyer the tenant must leave, as basement apartments are in contravention of the zoning bylaws.

This is but one example.of something that could adversely affect your buyer client if the present use clause is left blank.It is not wrong to leave it blank, but if the property is being used for anything other than single family residential, your client will be better protected by inserting what the property is presently being used for (if the buyer wants to continue that use).