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Status Brief

Costs

What a status certificate review costs

Usually nothing extra on top of your lawyer's closing fee: the buyer's lawyer normally reads it during the condition period. Paid separately, a review runs from about $30 for an automated report to $549 for the top of Docwise's range. The certificate itself is a different charge: the condo corporation can bill up to $100 for it, taxes included.

The options, side by side

Prices as each provider publishes them, checked 22 September 2026.

  1. Your closing lawyer

    PriceUsually no separate line. Purchase fees run about $1,000 to $2,000 plus HST and disbursements

    The buyer's lawyer normally reads the certificate during the condition period. Firms that publish their fees, such as SLC Lawyer and Insight Law Firm, don't list the review as a separate charge, so ask whether yours is included.

  2. Ownright

    PriceFree review. Purchase closings from $1,179, plus HST and disbursements

    An online closing service that advertises a complimentary status certificate review.

  3. Docwise

    PriceFrom $249; the average review is $249 to $549

    A standalone condo document review, bought separately from a closing.

  4. CondoDoc

    Price$29.99 plus GST

    An automated condo, strata and HOA document report, delivered in about six minutes.

  5. Status Brief

    Price$19

    An automated read of the whole Ontario package, scans included, with every finding tied to the page it came from. Most packages take 3 to 5 minutes.

When paying separately makes sense

  • Offer night. The certificate is in hand, offers close tonight, and you are thinking of waiving the condition. Your lawyer's review comes after you are committed.
  • Before you have a lawyer. Comparing two buildings, or deciding whether a unit is worth an offer at all.
  • A long package. Two hundred pages of by-laws, budgets and statements, and you want to know which of them matter before you ask about them.
  • Selling. You want to see what a buyer's lawyer will see in your building's package before they do.

What any review should cover

Whoever reads it, and whatever they charge, a review should tell you about arrears or a lien on the unit, special assessments, the paragraph 12 catch-all, the reserve fund against its plan, lawsuits, the insurance deductibles and the rules you would live under.

The full list is on the status certificate red flags page, with where each item sits in the standard Ontario form.

Read yours for $19.

Upload the package as it came. Checking the file is free; you pay only once you have seen how many pages it has, and a package that cannot be read is refunded automatically.

Upload the packageSee a sample brief

General information, not legal advice. A brief is not a lawyer's review, and a lawyer should still see the package before you commit to a purchase.

Sources, checked 22 September 2026: Ownright pricing; Docwise; CondoDoc (Brookstone Inspection); SLC Lawyer and Insight Law Firm fee pages; Condominium Authority of Ontario, “Status certificate” (the $100 cap).