Financing costs
Lender, broker and private financing fees
By Bo Yu, Broker, Right at Home Realty, Brokerage · Verified/updated August 2026
On a standard prime mortgage from a bank or a broker-channel lender, you normally pay no lender fee and no broker fee — the lender pays the broker a finder's fee, and it doesn't come out of your pocket.
Fees appear when the file doesn't fit prime lending: bruised credit, unusual income, a rural or unconventional property, a second mortgage, or a short-term private loan. Then you can see a lender fee, a broker fee, and an administration or renewal fee, deducted from the advance rather than billed to you.
Ontario regulates this. A mortgage brokerage must disclose fees to you in writing before you are bound, including the amount, who receives it and the relationship between the parties.
- Who charges it
- The lender, the mortgage brokerage, and sometimes a mortgage administrator.
- Who normally pays
- The borrower, usually netted out of the mortgage advance on closing.
- When it's paid
- On funding.
- Cash or financed
- Usually deducted from the mortgage advance — which means you receive less than the face amount and need the difference in cash.
- Typical range
- $0 on most prime mortgages; commonly 1%–3% of the loan on private financing
How it's calculated — and why it varies
There is no set rate. What you can rely on is the disclosure: under Ontario's mortgage brokering rules, the brokerage must give you written disclosure of every fee, its purpose and its recipient before you commit.
- Prime bank or broker mortgage: typically no lender or broker fee.
- Alternative or "B" lender: lender fee often around 1% of the loan.
- Private first or second mortgage: lender fee plus broker fee, commonly totalling 2%–5%, plus the lender's legal costs.
- Administration, renewal and discharge fees are set out in the commitment — read them before you sign.
- Fees deducted from the advance reduce the money that reaches your lawyer, so the cash you need at closing goes up by the same amount.
Exemptions, refunds and when it doesn't apply
- Most first-time buyers with employment income and normal credit pay none of these fees at all.
- A brokerage cannot charge you an advance fee for arranging a mortgage of $400,000 or less before the mortgage is advanced.
- If a fee isn't in the written disclosure you signed, question it — that disclosure is a regulatory requirement, not a courtesy.
- Check FSRA's public register to confirm the brokerage and agent are licensed before you pay anything.
A real Ottawa example
A salaried buyer in Kanata with a prime lender: $0 in lender or broker fees. The only financing-related cash items are the appraisal and, if they're under 20% down, the 8% tax on the insurance premium.
A self-employed buyer taking a one-year private second mortgage of $100,000 to bridge a purchase sees a $2,000 lender fee and a $2,000 broker fee deducted at funding — so $96,000 arrives, and they must cover the $4,000 gap from their own funds.
How this shows up in the calculator
The calculator does not assume any lender or broker fee, because most Ottawa buyers pay none. If your commitment letter shows fees, add them to the cash-to-close figure by hand — and remember that fees netted from the advance increase the cash you need, dollar for dollar.
Open the calculatorOfficial sources — verified/updated August 2026
Rules and rates change. These are the first-party pages this one was checked against; confirm anything that matters to your purchase directly with them.
Related buyer tools
Every figure on this page is a planning estimate for general information only, based on the assumptions shown, and are not legal, tax, mortgage or financial advice or an offer of credit. Actual rates, payments, taxes, fees and values vary — confirm the numbers with your lender, lawyer or accountant before relying on them. Full disclosures.
This page is general information about how a cost works in Ontario, not legal, tax, mortgage or accounting advice, and not a quote. Your lawyer, lender and accountant confirm what actually applies to your purchase.
Want this priced out for a real Ottawa property?
Send Bo the address or price range and you'll get a written cost sheet for that specific purchase — no obligation.
Ottawa in focus
What the city actually looks like
