Selling an Estate Home in Toronto: Court, Tax and the Empty House

Authority to sell comes before the price

The first question most executors ask us is what the house will fetch. The question that actually decides the calendar is who has the legal right to sign the sale and when.

Ontario’s guidance says an estate normally has to be probated where the person who died owned real property and that probate is needed if that property is to be sold. So the court application sits under everything else. Start it early and the other work can run beside it.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Every estate needs its own lawyer and usually an accountant.

The power of attorney ends at death

A son or daughter may have managed a parent’s money for years under a continuing power of attorney for property. Under section 12 of Ontario’s Substitute Decisions Act, that power of attorney is terminated when the grantor dies.

From then on, the person with authority over the estate home is the estate trustee, the term Ontario uses for an executor. The attorney and the estate trustee are often the same person, but the source of their authority changes on the day of death. Anything signed about the house after that date has to be signed as estate trustee.

Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee

Probate is the court process that gives a person authority to act as estate trustee or confirms the authority of the trustee named in a will. Ontario splits it by the value of the estate.

Estate value	Certificate
Up to $150,000	Small Estate Certificate
More than $150,000	Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee

The application goes to the Superior Court of Justice in the county or district where the person lived when they died. Where there is no will, the spouse or common-law partner usually has the first right to apply, followed by a close adult relative.

In Toronto the estate home alone usually puts an estate above $150,000. TRREB’s median sale price for all property types from April to June 2026 was $1,850,000 in Leaside and $1,922,500 in Lawrence Park North, so most Toronto families selling an estate home will be applying for the full certificate.

Estate administration tax, with Toronto examples

Nothing is payable on an estate valued at $50,000 or less. Above that, the tax is $15 for every $1,000 (or part of $1,000) of the estate’s value. The value is rounded up to the nearest thousand.

Value of the estate	Estate administration tax
$50,000	Nil
$150,000	$1,500
$500,000	$6,750
$1,000,000	$14,250
$1,850,000	$27,000
$2,000,000	$29,250

The tax is worked out on the whole estate rather than the house alone. A mortgage or lien registered against real property can be deducted from that property’s value. The tax is paid as a deposit with the application and becomes the final tax once the certificate is issued.

The 180 day Estate Information Return

Within 180 calendar days after the certificate is issued, the estate trustee must file an Estate Information Return with Ontario’s Ministry of Finance. The return is required even when no tax is payable.

The records behind it must be kept for four years. That includes whatever was used to value the estate property, so keep the appraisal or opinion of value in the estate file.

Probate value and sale price are different numbers

The estate reports what the house was worth on the date of death. The sale price is whatever a buyer agrees to on the day the house sells, which may be many months later.

The longer a house sits, the further the two can drift apart and the gap may matter for tax. If the amount is large or a beneficiary is likely to question it, ask the estates lawyer whether a formal appraisal is needed.

Capital gains: speak to the accountant first

The Canada Revenue Agency’s principal residence exemption can remove the gain for the years a home qualified as a principal residence. There may still be a gain on any rise in value between the date of death and the sale. That is the point where an estate needs an accountant rather than an agent and the time to ask is before closing.

The empty house and Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax

An estate home in Toronto can sit empty for months while the court process runs. The City’s Vacant Home Tax adds a step many families miss.

• Declare every year. Owners of residential property in Toronto must declare its occupancy status each year. A property with no declaration by the deadline is deemed vacant.
• Know the rate. From the 2024 taxation year the tax is 3 percent of the property’s Current Value Assessment.
• Check the death of owner exemption. It applies where the home was vacant for six months or more in the year because an owner died and can be claimed for up to three consecutive taxation years. A copy of the death certificate is required.
• Check the care exemption. Where the principal resident spent at least six months of the year in a hospital or a long term or supportive care facility, a separate exemption can be claimed for up to two consecutive years.

Beyond the tax, tell the insurer the house is unoccupied, keep the heat on through winter, keep property tax and utilities paid and change the locks if many people hold keys. Our guide to Toronto property tax explains how the bill is adjusted at closing and our post on selling a house before probate in Ontario covers timing questions in more depth.

Contents take longer than the court

The court sets a pace nobody can speed up. The contents are the part a family controls and the part it most often underestimates. Start sorting while the application is with the court rather than after the certificate arrives. Move managers and contents sale companies do this work every week.

Our downsizing guide covers the same ground for an owner who is moving while living and our senior downsizing checklist sets out the order we suggest for clearing a house.

Where estate property sales stall

In our experience, delays rarely come from the market. They come from three places.

No agreement on the plan. One beneficiary wants to sell now, another wants to keep the house, a third wants to wait. Settle that before listing.

One person carrying everything. The estate trustee is often grieving too. Keeping the family informed early is kinder and quicker.

Steps taken one at a time. Court, then contents, then repairs, then listing. Running them side by side can save months.

If you are the estate trustee for a Toronto property and want to see the sequence before committing to anything, contact us. A first conversation costs nothing. We work alongside your lawyer and accountant and we will say so if waiting is the better choice.