Hi all,
I’m trying to sell a car with payments to someone, both of us being in Canada. So we kind of agreed on instalments and all, but here’s the quirk.
I don’t want the car in my name anymore, if something goes wrong (radar, parking, whatever) it’ll come back at me. I don’t want to keep possession of the car either - it’s an RV and storage is a bitch. Also I’m moving out of province so re-registering it inter-province is another bitch.
I was thinking of placing a lien on the vehicle, but there’s no information on the mighty www on HOW to proceed to this in Canada as a private seller.
(I know that the first piece of advice would be “tell them to get financing, you’re not a bank” and the like - oh well, let’s just say that for now I am still interested on how to put a lien on the darn thing. If SHTF they’ll be stuck with the RV in this province and won’t be able to either sell it or re-register it inter-province, which suits me just fine if I don’t get my payments.)
Well, in the US, most titles that I have seen have the place for the transfer on the back. Name, address, purchase amount, sigs, etc.
Then on the front, there are places for liens. You fill that out if you are transferring it with a lien.
You take your filled out title with all of the notarized signatures to the DMV and then the lienholder gets a fresh title in the mail (with all of your pen signatures now typed in official state format) until it is paid off, at which time you mail the title to the owner (where you have signed and released the lien).
If it is different in Canada, someone will come along.
OP, what province are you in? There can be different rules between provinces, so it would help us if you would let us know.
And how long are the installment payments to continue? This is important, as if they are to continue for over a year, your agreement must be in writing to be enforceable.
Spoons,
I am currently in the NWT. I am thinking that the majority of the Alberta rules and regulations apply, as the NWT’s codes and acts are copied pretty much to the letter from AB’s.
The payments are to be done in 3 instalments: 5k at the time of purchase, 5k mid-December and another 6k in March 2012.
I am trying to devise a contract too, in written - I’m not selling an RV on words and friendship.
To the best of my knowledge, yes, NWT law is pretty much the same as in Alberta.
You will need to draft a contract outlining the total loan amount, the deposit, and the installment dates for the remaining payments. This is the very least it should contain; there may be other terms and conditions that belong in there that you have not told us about. You may wish to consult a lawyer and have him or her draft the contract for you.
Once the contract is signed by both parties, and witnessed, you have a security interest. You can register this security interest against the RV, in the Personal Property Registry. You can do this at any registry in the province where the RV will be registered (same place you get car registrations, for example), and I would suggest doing it as soon as possible after the transfer–perhaps even accompany the buyer to the registry when he or she registers the vehicle. Registering the security interest will give you an enforceable interest in the RV–the same as a lien, though it is not called that. This may be why you could not find anything online about it.
Of course, you will also sign over title at the time of sale using the form on the back of the vehicle’s current registration slip. You do not need notarized signatures on this document.
Note that while IAAL, I’m providing general information only, as this is not an area I practice in. For more information on registering your interest, see your local registry. They will tell you exactly what documents they need, and how to proceed with registration. For more specific information on your situation, including how to enforce your interest if it comes to that, see a lawyer. For the law that pertains to the interest, see the appropriate Personal Property Security Act, or whatever it may be called in the NWT (Alberta’s is the Personal Property Security Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. P-7.)
Thank you so much. I was exactly after these guidelines, and you provided a great amount of help. The other thing that I am intending to put in the contract is that the buyer will insure the RV in full for the whole duration of said contract and present proof of insurance in x days after signing (say 10 working days.) Also that the amount insured will be payable to me in the eventuality of an accident or if the vehicle gets destroyed. My common sense says that I should. (Kind of like companies that finance vehicles to make sure they get back their money if something happens to the lease.)
I don’t know what else to write. I do want to make the contract as bulletproof as possible but NWT is scarce on good lawyers and I’m not even in Yellowknife…