Independent tool maintained by Jatin Dua, Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty. Not affiliated with any builder. Built from Ontario municipal planning records, builders’ own published material and court filings.
In August 2026 I ran a verification pass over sixteen GTA low-rise pre-construction launches — the kind that show up on registration sites as “coming soon.” I checked each one against the builder’s own material and the municipality’s planning file.
Eight of the sixteen failed. Not “looked risky” — failed, on facts anyone can look up. One was a court-appointed receiver’s name for a project whose 329 existing buyers were having their agreements repriced or terminated. One was marked sold out on the builder’s own website while brokerage sites were still taking registrations for it. One sat on land owned by a company with no public connection to the builder being advertised. One belonged to a developer whose entire 61-property portfolio is in a court-supervised sale.
None of that was hidden. All of it was in public records. It just takes someone an hour to look.
The five-minute self-check
Answer honestly about the project you are considering. This is not a scoring gimmick — each question maps to something that has actually gone wrong for buyers this year.
What I actually check
Not opinion. Six things, all from records you could look up yourself if you had the time.
| The builder’s own words | What the developer publishes on its own site, versus what registration and aggregator sites publish about it. These disagree far more often than they agree, and only one of them is accountable for being wrong. |
|---|---|
| The municipal file | The Official Plan Amendment, zoning by-law amendment, draft plan of subdivision and site plan. File numbers, applicant of record, unit counts, and whether anything is actually approved or still in review. |
| Who owns the land | The applicant on the municipal file, and whether there is a public connection between that company and the one selling you a home. |
| Insolvency and appeals | Receivership filings, court-supervised sale processes, and Ontario Land Tribunal appeals. All public. Almost never mentioned by anyone taking your registration. |
| Price provenance | Where the number you were quoted came from, and whether the builder has ever published it. |
| The agreement | Cap on closing costs, deposit schedule, assignment rights, closing-date extension clause, tenure and any monthly fee. This is where the money is. |
What this is not
It is not a promise that a project is a good investment — I am not a financial adviser and no page can tell you that. It is not legal advice; your lawyer reviews the agreement and should. And it is not a claim that every project that fails these checks is a bad project. Plenty of good communities are early, unapproved and short on published detail. The point is that you should know which one you are looking at before you commit, not after.
It is also free, and there is no obligation attached to it. If the answer is “this looks fine, go ahead,” that is what I will tell you.
Send me the project name — or the agreement.
The cooling-off period is short and the builder’s agreement is written for the builder. Send me the paperwork and I will tell you what is negotiable, what the real closing costs come to, and whether the deal makes sense at that price.
Call or text 437-987-1925 Send me the paperwork
Jatin Dua, Sales Representative — RE/MAX Quantum Realty Inc., Brokerage. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract with another brokerage.
Common questions
How long does a check take?
Usually a day. Municipal records are public but they are not fast to search, and the insolvency check is the part that takes longest because it is the part nobody indexes.
Do I have to buy through you?
No. If you are already registered with another agent on that project, I will say so and stop — the industry rules on that are clear and I follow them. If you are not, and you want representation, bringing your own agent to a builder sale typically costs you nothing because the builder has already budgeted a cooperating commission. Register your representation on your first visit; most builders will not add it afterwards.
What if the project checks out?
Then you get a short note saying so, with the file numbers and the builder’s published figures, and you go ahead with more confidence than you had. That is a good outcome, not a wasted one.
Can you check a project outside the GTA?
I cover the GTA and the western municipalities in depth — Etobicoke, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, Oakville, Milton, Burlington. Outside that I can still run the insolvency and municipal-record check, but I will not pretend to know the neighbourhood.
Which projects have you already checked?
Sixteen so far in this pass, with the results written up in the 2026 launch audit. The ones that passed have their own pages under pre-construction: see the guides for Brampton, Caledon and Oakville.
Get the check
Tell me the project name and where you are in the process. If you have the agreement, say so — that changes what is worth looking at.