Rene Liebs-Benke

The applicant property owners sought a writ of possession and the removal of a caution to complete the sale of a commercial unit to a third-party purchaser.

The respondent tenant, who had been overholding since the expiration of the original lease, claimed a First Right of Refusal (FRR) to match the purchase offer.

The court found that the FRR expired with the original lease and did not carry over into the overholding period.

The application was granted, the caution was ordered removed, and a writ of possession was issued.

Estate trustees sought approval of estate accounts and determination of trustee compensation following the death of an intestate estate trustee before accounts were passed.

The respondent beneficiary objected to several aspects of the compensation calculation, including investment losses, treatment of real estate sale proceeds, payments made to the trustee, accounting fees, and the application of standard percentage-based compensation.

The court held that compensation should not be awarded on losses, that certain disbursements and professional fees should be excluded from compensation calculations, and that reduced percentages were appropriate for some transactions.

Applying the conventional percentage approach cross‑checked against the five-factor analysis for trustee compensation, the court fixed compensation at a reduced amount.

The estate trustee’s compensation was set at $21,761.41 CAD plus $445.81 USD, subject to further submissions on costs and distribution of the remaining estate funds.