Mortgage Glossary

A legal document showing the ownership of a property. Title documents are registered with the land registry offices in each respective Province. Lenders providing a first mortgage require ‘clean’ title to a property before providing the mortgage. This means they have full, unrestricted and authentic ownership of the property. Mortgages are legally registered on title to protect the lender's financial interest in the property.

A certificate of insurance, provided by a title insurance company, that provides protection against title defects such as errors in the title search, fraud, zoning violations, encroachments and other issues. It also ensures that no other mortgages can be registered without acknowledgment and permission from a lawyer and the originating financial institution.

The percentage of the borrower's income that is needed to cover housing costs (as included in the GDS) plus any other monthly obligations that an individual has, such as credit card payments and car payments. The most common formula is:  mortgage payment + property taxes + heating + 50% of condo fees (if applicable) + other debt payment obligations / gross household income. TDS is capped by most lenders at 44% for the best borrowers.

For a variable-rate mortgage, the Trigger Point will be reached if the outstanding principal balance (including any capitalized interest) is higher than the original principal balance of your mortgage. If this happens, your bank will contact you to discuss possible solutions. The most likely solutions will be either 1) you make a lump sum payment of principal to bring your mortgage balance back below the original balance, 2) you increase your monthly payment amount to pay down principal according to your original amortization schedule, or 3) you convert your mortgage to a fixed ate mortgage.