Required in practice, if not in principle
There is no rule that a private cash buyer must personally retain counsel. But almost nobody buys that way, and every mortgage lender we deal with requires a lawyer to register their security against title and to give them an opinion that the title is good. So the realistic answer for a financed Calgary purchase is that a lawyer is not optional.
Both sides have their own. Your lawyer acts for you; the seller's acts for the seller.
What they do that your REALTOR® cannot
- Search title and identify what is registered against it — mortgages, liens, caveats, easements, utility rights of way.
- Review the Real Property Report and municipal compliance, and raise anything that does not line up. What a RPR is →
- Take your lender's instructions and prepare the mortgage documents.
- Prepare the statement of adjustments — the reconciliation of property taxes, condo fees and anything else split between you and the seller as of possession.
- Hold your funds in trust, register the transfer, and release the money.
Your REALTOR® negotiates the deal and manages the conditions. Your lawyer moves ownership. Neither can do the other's job, and the handover between them is where a well-run purchase quietly succeeds.
Choose early, and choose one who does this daily
Retain before your conditions come off, not after. Conveyancing is deadline-driven procedural work, and a firm that closes these constantly will spot a RPR or compliance problem while there is still time to fix it. Ask for an all-in quote including disbursements, ask when they need your funds, and ask what they will need you to bring to signing.
The full week-by-week sequence from firm deal to keys is in our Alberta closing timeline guide.