Sheriff Sales

[ChrisCentral]

Does anyone have useful hints on this process ... I searched this forum and googled without much success for the Ontario process; is it in the municipal act?

Reason for the information requests is that my sister in law wants to buy a house in Brampton for her and her daughter - her only chance is to get something below market value ... just the math of her situation - we are trying to help her out financially and I noticed there are some sales coming up; she has pegged two in a neighbourhood near her parents. I will be going to the Sheriff Auction with her and I am looking for advice/hints/tips?

Time is a little pressing on this - any helpful tips or advice on the process is very greatly appreciated!

Thank you kindly.

[g2020]

It is best to talk directly with the Sheriff's office but these sales are probably not suited to the novice. There is no guide as with tax sales. The Sheriff may allow you to see a copy of the appraisal. Yes, there always is an appraisal and the Sheriff will not normally sell the property for less than market value. The differences between a tax sale and a Sheriff's sale are so numerous that I could not begin to list all the differences. The main difference is that, like in a Quebec tax sale, you can end up owning just part of the property. The creditor does not sell the property through normal channels since they may have a judgement against just one of the owners. Your relative would then end up owning half of the house, and the other owner occupying the house. A little complex, eh? There is a rule of law that says that you cannot get possession against a half interest, so your only recluse is partitioning. Are you still with me? If I was a lawyer I might consider buying at Sheriff's sale but I am not. I bought one townhouse in Belleville, made a reasonable profit, but never bought any more. I quit Sherriff's sales because they all seemed to get redeemed at the last minute, and now we have the same problem with tax sales. I once bought a 1951 Mercedes that had almost no miles from the public trustee, and that is a process that I would recommend for someone that cannot afford to pay full price for a car. I know, I know, they need a house and not a car. Hopefully this introduction will inspire others to relate their Sheriff's sale experiences. The mortgages remain with a Sheriffs deed poll so your relatives may only need a small amount of cash since they are assuming the mortgages, tax arrears, etc.

[ChrisCentral]

So ultra complex and potentially no house at the end of the day; unless there are any other weigh-ins we will likely abandon ship pending our discussion with the Sheriff Office.

Thanks all!

[jt]

I looked into sheriff sales about a year ago and ended up with more questions than answers.  One of the things I could never figure out was how to find out what was left owing on the mortgage.  I understand that in a sheriff sale, you take possession subject to any mortgages.  So, assuming you win, you still need to pay off the mortgage.  The only way to come up with a bid is to get a sense for what is owed on the mortgage.  However, I don't understand how you go about doing this.  The sheriff won't provide the info.  The banks won't provide the info (there was a court decision that indicated that banks violate privacy legislation if they do - Citi Cards Canada Inc. v. Pleasance if you are interested).  So how do you figure out what is owed on the mortgage? Is the amount of the mortgage registered on title an upper limit for what could be owed.  That is, if I do a title search and there is a 350K charge, can I assume that only 350K is owed? 

The other wierd thing with Sheriffs sales is that the property often seems to be purchased at auction by the mortgagee (at least, this was what I gather from the reported cases dealing with sheriffs sales).  I don't really understand why the mortgagee wants to buy the property.  Whoever buys it does so subject to the mortgage, so it seems that the mortgagee is protected irrespective of the bidder.

I agree with the previous posters that these sales seem to be very complicated.   Even with a winning bid, it seems that there is a good chance of ending up in court!