An e-signature is enforceable on an Ontario agreement of purchase and sale once it “identifies the person signing” and shows “intent to sign and to be bound”, but the transfer and mortgage documents that actually get registered on title bypass e-signature platforms entirely.
The general test a court applies to an e-signature is whether it identifies the signer and demonstrates intent to sign and to be bound, using a method reliable for the context — which is exactly why a DocuSign-type signature on an agreement of purchase and sale, or on an amendment or waiver, is routinely enforceable in Ontario. Agents can treat an e-signed offer or amendment as binding the moment it is delivered, the same as a wet-ink one.
The carve-out matters at closing. Documents that must be registered under the Land Registration Reform Act — land transfers and mortgages registered in Ontario’s electronic land registry (Teraview) — use a separate government-controlled electronic system, not commercial e-signature platforms. The underlying agreement can be signed entirely by DocuSign; the actual registrable transfer or charge is executed and registered through Teraview under the lawyer’s own registry credentials, a distinct step. Powers of attorney are separately flagged as requiring traditional execution, not e-signature, which matters for any file involving an attorney signing on an owner’s behalf.
A buyer and seller e-sign the agreement of purchase and sale and every subsequent amendment through DocuSign — all fully enforceable. At closing, the buyer’s lawyer cannot simply attach a screenshot of that same e-signature to register the transfer of title or the new mortgage charge. Those documents are executed and registered separately, through Teraview, under the lawyer’s registry credentials. An agent who assumes “we already signed everything electronically, so closing is just a formality” is skipping a real, separate step the client’s lawyer still has to complete.
See also: amendments and mutual releases, assignment of agreement and a condition precedent.
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