Please contact us. One of our managers will be delighted to explain the procedures to you. You’ll be talking to someone who has handled thousands of tax registrations and hundreds of tax sales. It will be our pleasure to contact you every step of the way and explain the process to you.
No. Payments must always be made directly to your municipality. Realtax will not accept any tax payments.
Tax Registration is the set of procedures that must be conducted before a property can be advertised for tax sale. These procedures include: registering a tax arrears certificate, notifying everyone who has an interest in the property, etc.
These procedures continue until:
- The taxes are paid in full,
- An extension agreement is issued and fulfilled, or
- The taxes have not been paid and one year has passed since the a tax arrears certificate was registered
Tax Sale is the set of procedures that must be conducted if the taxes remain unpaid one year after a tax arrears certificate was registered.
Previously, a tax arrears certificate could be registered if there were arrears owing on January 1 of the third year following that in which the taxes became owing (Municipal Act, 2001, 373(1)). That has changed. According to subsection 55(1) of the Modernizing Ontario’s Municipal Legislation Act, 2017¸ a tax arrears certificate can be registered if there are any taxes owing on January 1 of the second year following that in which the taxes became owing.
In other words, if there were any taxes owing on a property from 2019 or earlier, you can now register a tax arrears certificate against that property.
Yes, it can be, providing that you are entitled to register a tax arrears certificate. Subsection 371(1) of the Municipal Act, 2001 allows you to charge back:
“…all reasonable costs incurred by the municipality after the treasurer becomes entitled to register a tax arrears certificate under section 373 in proceeding under this Part or in contemplation of proceeding under this Part…”
Municipalities cannot accept a partial payment unless an Extension Agreement is entered into and passed as a bylaw.
Subsection 347(3) of the Municipal Act, 2001, states:
“No part payment shall be accepted on account of taxes in respect of which a tax arrears certificate is registered under this Act except under an extension agreement entered into under section 378.”
Please note that an Extension Agreement may only be entered into within one year of the date that a tax arrears certificate was registered (subsection 378(1)).
Municipalities are not required to enter into Extension Agreements.
A municipality is always permitted to simply insist on payment
in full after a tax arrears certificate has been registered.
