Municipalities may, following three years of non-payment of real property taxes register a tax arrears certificate on real property subject to taxes and send the prescribed a notice. The owner or other person receiving notice of the tax arrears certificate may during the one-year redemption period pay the outstanding taxes, interest and costs and demand a cancellation of the certificate. If the lands have not been redeemed during the redemption period, the municipality may then proceed to sell the land to the highest bidder, unless the municipality and the party receiving the notice have entered into an extension agreement prolonging the time for redemption. Proceeds of the sale are to applied in accordance with s.380 of the Municipal Act, being firstly to the cancellation price; secondly to all other persons in accordance with their property at law; and thirdly, to the person who immediately before registration of the tax deed was the owner of the land.

The process of tendering a property is a lengthy one, and the Act determines the types of notices that must be sent, the timing for sending them and whether or not registered mail must be used. At each step of the process, administrative fees, legal fees, and other costs are added as charges to the account. The process takes approximately one year, from the time that the tax arrears certificate is registered on the property title to the time that the municipality can offer the property for sale by tender.

Extension Agreements

The Municipality may extend the time for payment of the tax arrears, once the registration process has been started. This is done through an Extension Agreement, which Council must pass by by-law. The Extension Agreement details the payment arrangements, and must be entered into before the expiry of the one-year period from the time of registration. If the property owner defaults on the agreement, the tax sale process continues from the point in time at which the extension agreement was entered into.

Tender Process

A property data sheet and key map is available for each property. Please note that it is not the municipality's responsibility to verify the accuracy of the data, particularly since much of the data is collected from the assessment records. Care must be exercised with respect to tax sale properties in the same manner that a purchaser would take care with purchasing a property from another owner.
Sale of Lands for Tax Arrears by Public Tender, Municipal Tax Sales Act

Results of Sale of Lands for Tax Arrears - 2008

Results of Sale of Lands for Tax Arrears - 2009

Results of Sale of Lands for Tax Arrears - 2010