Frequently Asked Questions

The ‘Accumulated Taxes’ are any property taxes that come due between the first day that a property is advertised for tax sale and the day that the highest tenderer pays the full amount owing for their tender, including Land Transfer Tax, HST, and accumulated taxes. This will usually be a relatively small amount, probably one or two months interest on the Minimum Tender Amount, at 1.25% interest per month.

Example Calculation: Minimum Tender Amount for a property is $10,000.00. The property is advertised for tax sale beginning on March 10th. The person with the highest tender pays the full amount owing on May 2nd. The municipality adds 1.25% interest on the first day of each month (April 1st and May 1st). $10,000.00 (Minimum Tender) x 1.25% (Monthly rate) x 2 (Months) = $250.00.

Note: if a property tax instalment was due during that time frame, it is also added to the accumulated taxes.

13% HST must be paid on a tax sale property unless either:

1. The property has a residential building/unit/complex on it and this is not the first time that the property and residence has been sold, Or,
2. The person buying the property is a HST registrant and you provide the municipality with the required paperwork indicating that you will “self-assess” and remit the required HST.

Outside Toronto: If the purchase price is $55,000 or less, LTT is 0.5%. If greater than $55,000: 0.5% of the first $55,000; 1% over $55,000 up to $250,000; 1.5% over $250,000 up to $400,000; 2% over $400,000.

Residential Exception: Amounts exceeding $2,000,000.00 where the land contains one or two single family residences: 2.5%.

City of Toronto: As a taxation measure granted under the City of Toronto Act, 2006, Toronto City Council approved a new Municipal Land Transfer Tax effective February 1, 2008 that will be applied to purchases on all properties in the city of Toronto in addition to the Province’s Land Transfer Tax.

An InfoPak (formerly called Tender Package or Bid Package) is a collection of information about all the properties in a specific municipality that are currently being offered for tax sale. A typical InfoPak includes some, or all, of the following: Assessed value, Annual taxes, Street-level/Aerial photo(s), Municipal Property records, Map, Property information, Instructions/forms for submitting a tender, proper envelope, and the Advertisement for tax sale.

Do I need one for each property? No, one InfoPak will provide the information that you need for all the properties that a municipality is selling on a specific date.

Cost: free for monthly or annual members. For non-members, InfoPaks cost $25 + HST.

InfoPaks: You will instantly receive an email with a ‘download link’. The download link will remain active until the closing date and time (tender opening) of the tax sale. All documents will be viewable and printable in Adobe Reader.

Title Searches: Title Search Summary™, Title Search Update™, and all our other products, are sent by email. Summaries are usually sent within one business day.

Troubleshooting: If you do not receive the email, check your junk/spam folder. You can also download by logging on to OTS, going to “My Account” and clicking “Orders.”

The tax sale would include the house. As long as it is affixed to the ground it is included in the sale. If the tax sale property had a mobile home or trailer – they would not be included in the sale. Anything inside the house would not be included either. As far as the contents of the house and/or equipment on the property is concerned – anything that is movable, the chattels, belong to the original owner.

The Conflict: Once you take title, the previous owner would be trespassing to remove them. If any chattels remain and the old owner requests them – the removal will have to be worked out between you and the prior owner. You are not obligated to track down the old owner.

Google Map: Most Featured Properties include a “Get Directions” button. You can also use the longitude and latitude numbers provided in your GPS to find the exact location shown on our map.

QR Codes: Most phones can read a QR code using the camera. Hold your camera up to the computer screen over the QR code on the listing. Your phone will read the code and open Google maps with an arrow pointing to the property.

By Municipality: The treasurer can cancel a tax sale at any time until a tax deed or “notice of vesting” is registered on title. A tax sale cannot be cancelled after registration.

By You: In order to have your tender withdrawn you must make a written request to the treasurer, and it must be received before the specified date and time for receiving tenders shown in the advertisement.

The property can be re-listed as a tax sale, or the Town can choose to take title (Vesting). For any tax sale that happened over 2 years ago, they can’t vest the property. Once the property has been vested, they can declare it “surplus” and offer it for sale through a real estate agent, their website, or our surplusproperty.ca website. The selling price can be market value.

Accumulated taxes are property taxes that have accumulated from the first day the property was advertised for tax sale until the day that the purchaser pays the treasurer the balance of the amount tendered.

A Crown interest is an interest in a property in favor of the government of Canada or the government of Ontario. It is vitally important to know if there are any Crown interests on a property that you are considering buying at a tax sale. This is because an interest in favour of the Crown will still affect the property after a tax sale. For example, if you bought a property at a tax sale, and the previous owner had an execution against him or her in favour of Canada Revenue Agency (or any other Crown interest) in the amount of $50,000.00, if you did not pay that $50,000.00, plus interest, to Canada Revenue Agency, they could seize the land and sell it. You could end up losing the property and losing whatever money you paid for that property. In order to find out if there are any Crown interests in a property it is necessary to obtain an up-to-date title search and execution search.

An easement is a right that a person (or corporation, etc.) has over part or all of another person’s property. For example, Bell Telephone may have an easement over part of a property for the purpose of maintaining phone lines. Another example of an easement is a “right of way.” A right of way entitles passage over all or part of the land. For example, a property that is on a lake may have a right of way over a portion of the land to allow people access to the lake. In order to find out if there are any easements over a property it is necessary to obtain an up-to-date title search.

An execution is a judgment issued by a court of law against a person or a corporation and filed with the local Sheriff’s Office. The execution states that the person or corporation owes a certain amount of money to another party (the “Execution Creditor”). It is vitally important to find out if there are any executions in favour of the Crown against the owner of a tax sale property. If there are, and you buy the property, you will be responsible to pay the amounts owing under those executions.

This is a package containing the forms that are required in order to submit a tender on a property that is being sold by public tender. Please note that information about ALL the properties in a given municipality are included in the InfoPak for that municipality. In other words, if you are interested in two properties in one town, you don’t need to buy two InfoPak’s. One InfoPak will give you information and documents for all the tax sale properties in that town. The InfoPak often includes important information about the properties, such as zoning regulations. InfoPaks are available for all of our Featured Properties; however, we don’t have them for our Members Only Properties. To get information about the Members Only Properties, contact the municipality and ask for a Tender Package or Bid Package. InfoPaks are $25.00, but are free for OTS Members.

This is a tax that must be paid when land is sold. Land transfer tax must be paid to the municipality. The municipality will then pay this money to the provincial government when a tax deed is registered.

For the purposes of this website, a municipality is a city, town, township, village, regional municipality, or county that is conducting a tax sale.

These are restrictions on the use of land. For example, a restrictive covenant may prohibit the building of a fence, or erecting a television antenna, or using the land as a slaughterhouse. Restrictive covenants are registered on title and continue to affect the land after a tax sale. The Title Searches that are available from this site show any restrictive covenants that are registered on title.

A title search is a search of the records of the title to a particular parcel of land. A title search will reveal vital information about the property, including, but not limited to, who owns the property, what mortgages, easements, restrictive covenants or other interests affect it, and if there are any surveys registered on title.

Our base price for a Title Search Summary is $119.50 for OTS Members and $239.00 for non-members. This price has been created from an assessment of the average search and what documents would need to be purchased to complete the search and the time required for the Title Searcher to complete the Title Search. Reasons for a price increase: Multiple PINs to be searched; Multiple owners requiring multiple execution searches; Ordering multiple writs; Multiple Plans required; Complex search with many documents.

Effective as of January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (the “Act”) prevents non-Canadians from buying residential property in Canada for 2 years and was extended for another 2 years until 2027. For full details visit: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/consultations/prohibition-purchase-residential-property-non-canadians-act