How to Find Tax Lien Properties for Sale in Ontario

How Ontario tax sales actually work

After three years of unpaid property taxes, an Ontario municipality can register a tax arrears certificate against the property. The owner has one year from registration to pay the arrears in full. If the arrears are not paid within that year, the municipality conducts a sale under the Municipal Act, 2001 and its associated tax-sale regulations.

The two formats are public tender (sealed bids submitted by deadline, opened in public on a fixed date, highest qualifying tender wins) and public auction (open bidding on a sale day). Successful bidders pay the bid price within 14 days, which clears the tax arrears and most charges on title — but not all (Crown interests and certain easements survive).

Where to find current tax-sale listings

• The Ontario Gazette — publishes legal notices of municipal tax sales province-wide; the official source.
• Municipal websites — most Ontario municipalities post current and upcoming tax sales on a dedicated page, including minimum tender amounts, property addresses, ARN numbers, and tender forms.
• Aggregator services — third-party sites (some free, some subscription) compile listings province-wide, sometimes with maps and basic property data; verify against municipal sources before relying.
• Real estate lawyers who handle tax sales — niche specialty; a few firms in the GTA handle the bulk of tax-sale closings and are worth knowing if this is your first.

Step by step: how to find this month’s tax-sale properties

1. Start with The Ontario Gazette. Municipal tax-sale notices are published as legal notices, usually in the Saturday edition, several weeks before the tender deadline. Search the current issue and the previous three for “sale of land by public tender”.
2. Check the municipality’s own tax-sale page. Search “[municipality] tax sale”. The municipal page carries the full package: legal description, assessment roll number (ARN), minimum tender amount, the tender form, and the deadline. Bookmark the pages for the municipalities you’re targeting and check them monthly.
3. Pull the parcel register. Using the ARN or PIN from the notice, have your lawyer (or you, through Ontario’s online land registry) pull the parcel register for $10–$30 to see every registered interest, including anything that survives the sale.
4. Confirm zoning and services. Call the municipal planning desk with the address: permitted uses, whether the lot is buildable, whether it has road access, water and sewer or is landlocked — a surprising share of rural tax-sale parcels are.
5. Drive by. Multiple visits at different times. Look for occupancy, condition, environmental red flags (drums, staining, buried tanks) and whether the neighbouring uses affect value.
6. Set your walk-away number. Estimate market value from recent comparable sales, subtract your worst-case repair budget, legal and carrying costs, and the taxes and HST due on closing. Bid that or less — the minimum tender amount is what the municipality is owed, not what the property is worth.
7. Submit a compliant tender. Use the municipal form exactly, attach the 20% deposit as a certified cheque, bank draft or money order payable to the municipality, and deliver it in the prescribed sealed envelope before the deadline. Non-compliant tenders are rejected unopened.

What to research before bidding (you usually can’t inspect)

Tax sales typically don’t allow physical inspections. Conduct a title search yourself or through your lawyer to identify any survival-after-sale interests — federal Crown interests, certain easements, registered restrictive covenants. Drive by the property at multiple times of day. Verify zoning and permitted uses with the municipality. Check whether the property is occupied (look for signs of life, parked cars, snow clearance in winter). Bidding blind on a property you haven’t researched is the way most tax-sale buyers lose deposits or inherit problems.

Use Ontario’s online land registry (Teranet) for title searches — your real estate lawyer can pull a parcel register for $10–$30 and identify most issues quickly. The cost of pre-bid due diligence is far less than the cost of bidding wrong.

Realistic expectations for tax-sale investors

Tax-sale opportunities exist but are not the easy money the marketing pitches suggest. Most viable properties (clean title, accessible, good area) attract multiple bids and clear at 80–100% of fair market value. The rare bargain comes with risk — unknown condition (usually deferred maintenance from a financially distressed owner), non-survival interests that limit use, occupants you may need to evict, or properties in areas with structural issues (declining municipal services, environmental concerns, no water/sewer).

Most tax-sale activity in Ontario is in smaller municipalities and rural townships, not the GTA. If you’re looking for distressed inventory in the Toronto area, power of sale on MLS® (see our distressed-properties guide) is the more accessible channel.

What a tax-sale purchase actually costs (beyond the bid)

• Land transfer tax: the tax deed is a transfer of land, so Ontario Land Transfer Tax applies on the purchase price exactly as it would on an MLS® purchase (plus the Toronto Municipal Land Transfer Tax for a City of Toronto parcel). See our buyer-side tax guide for the brackets.
• HST: can apply to vacant land, commercial and some other non-residential parcels. Used residential property is generally exempt. The tender notice usually states whether HST is “in addition to” the bid — read it before you set your price.
• Accumulated interest and costs: the successful bidder pays the balance plus any taxes and interest that accrued between the notice date and closing.
• Legal fees: $1,500–$3,000 for a tax-sale closing, more if title needs cleaning up or an occupant needs to be dealt with.
• Title insurance and survey: where available, title insurance on a tax-sale purchase often costs more than a standard policy, and lenders will usually want a survey on rural parcels.
• Financing: most lenders will not fund a tax-sale purchase inside the 14-day closing window. Plan for cash or a pre-arranged line of credit, and refinance afterwards once title is registered.
• Carrying and remediation: budget for utilities reconnection, insurance on a vacant property (expensive and sometimes hard to place), clean-out, and the possibility of an eviction process if the property is occupied.

Put together, closing costs on a tax-sale purchase run meaningfully higher than on a conventional resale. If you are weighing a tax sale against a regular purchase, our guide to REALTOR® fees and closing-cost breakdown show what a conventional transaction costs so you can compare like with like.

Tax sales in Toronto, the 905 and Hamilton

The City of Toronto, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Brampton and Hamilton all conduct tax sales, but they are infrequent and small — typically a handful of parcels a year, often odd-shaped remnants, laneway slivers or land-locked lots rather than livable homes. Well-located houses almost never reach tax sale in these markets because the owner can sell conventionally, or a lender pays the arrears to protect its mortgage, long before the municipality’s one-year redemption period runs out.

For a realistic path to below-market inventory in these cities, watch power-of-sale, estate and long-days-on-market listings on MLS® instead. Our local pages track them: estate sales in Toronto, Brampton, Hamilton, Vaughan and Richmond Hill — and if you want an agent who will flag distressed listings the day they hit the board, start with our Toronto buyer representation page.

The tender process: what happens on sale day

1. Submit your tender by the deadline (often 3pm on a stated business day) using the municipal tender form, accompanied by a 20% certified deposit payable to the municipality.
2. Tenders are opened in public at the time stated in the notice; highest qualifying tender wins.
3. The municipality notifies the successful bidder, who has 14 days to pay the balance plus accrued interest, taxes, and any HST applicable.
4. The municipality issues a tax deed, which clears most charges and registers the new owner.
5. Failure to complete means the deposit is forfeited and the municipality can re-sell.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the minimum bid in an Ontario tax sale?

Set by the municipality, usually equal to the unpaid taxes plus interest, costs, and administrative fees. The minimum is published in the tender notice and represents what the municipality is owed — not the property’s market value.

Do tax sales clear title?

Generally yes for taxes, charges, and most encumbrances — but not for federal Crown interests and certain other survival rights. Have your lawyer confirm before you bid — the parcel register will identify any rights that survive.

How quickly do I have to close on a successful tender?

Typically within 14 days of being declared the successful bidder. The tender deposit (often 20%) is forfeited if you fail to complete on time. Have financing arranged before you bid.

Can I get title insurance on a tax-sale purchase?

Some title insurers will insure tax-sale purchases; others require a clearance period after the sale before issuing. Discuss with your lawyer and insurance broker before bidding.

Are tax-sale properties listed on MLS® or REALTOR.ca?

No. Municipal tax sales are run by the municipality, not through a brokerage, so they never appear on MLS®. The Ontario Gazette and the municipality’s own tax-sale page are the only official sources; aggregator sites simply republish those notices.

What happens to the previous owner’s mortgage?

A registered tax deed extinguishes most private interests, including mortgages — the lender’s recourse is to the sale proceeds, not to you. That is also why viable properties rarely reach tax sale: a lender will normally pay the arrears to protect its security before the redemption year expires. Crown interests (for example certain federal liens) are the main exception and do survive.

Can I view the property before I bid?

Usually not. The municipality does not own the property until the tax deed is registered and has no right to grant access, so tenders are submitted sight-unseen. Exterior drive-bys, the parcel register, municipal planning records and aerial imagery are your due-diligence tools.