Your biggest purchase, closed from where you live.

In Alberta, a lawyer is the only person who can register the transfer of land and your mortgage at the Land Titles office — which is why every purchase with a mortgage runs through one. But registration is the last step, not the job. The work starts the day your conditions are waived: we pull the title, read it line by line, and flag anything that shouldn't be there — old caveats, builders' liens, utility rights-of-way that cut through the garage you were planning to build.

Then the lender enters the picture. Your bank doesn't send mortgage money to you — it sends mortgage instructions to your lawyer, who prepares the documents, confirms the lender's conditions are met, and certifies that its security is properly registered before funds flow. If your lender's instructions arrive late or contain an error, your lawyer is the one who catches it before it delays possession.

The third piece is the math. The statement of adjustments prorates property taxes and condo fees to your possession date, so you only pay for the days you actually own the home. If the seller prepaid the year's taxes, you credit them back their unused portion; if taxes are owing, the credit runs the other way. The statement also produces the single number buyers care about most: cash to close. You can preview that number now with our free closing cost calculator — instant, itemized, no email required.

After 20 years and more than 10,000 Alberta closings, the pattern is consistent: files go wrong in the quiet weeks before possession, not on possession day. That's why we open your file within one business hour of intake and a lawyer reviews it the same day — the earlier a title problem surfaces, the cheaper it is to fix. The full sequence is laid out on our how it works page.

By possession day, your part is already done — you signed days earlier, by video at your own table or at the Edmonton office if you preferred, and your cash-to-close went in well before the deadline. The day itself belongs to the lawyers. Your mortgage funds arrive in our trust account, we combine them with your down payment, and the full purchase price moves to the seller's lawyer under trust conditions that protect you until title is registered in your name.

Keys commonly release at noon, but the exact time is set by your purchase contract — and keys cannot release until the seller's lawyer confirms funds have arrived. This is why a delayed wire transfer in the morning can push a noon possession to mid-afternoon. We watch the funds in real time and tell you the moment key release is authorized, so you're not sitting in a loaded moving truck guessing.

A scenario worth planning for: if your possession falls on the day after a long weekend, banks and Land Titles are closed the business day before, which compresses the funding window. We flag dates like this at intake and build the timeline around them. Most purchases run 4 to 8 weeks from accepted offer to possession, which leaves room — but only if the file opens early.

If you're selling a home to fund this purchase, the two files need coordinated closing dates so your sale proceeds arrive before your purchase funds are due. We handle sale files and purchases together as a bundle for exactly this reason. And if you'd rather sign in person, the Edmonton office at 218, 10113-104 Street NW is available on request — same lawyer, same flat fee.

Last reviewed: June 2026. Government fees cited are verified against alberta.ca as of the review date.