My property is up for sale

COVID-19 : The process relative to the sale of immovables for non-payment of property taxes or duties on transfers of immovables is temporarily suspended.
However, Montréal has resumed its collection activities for the unpaid taxes.

When the decree of public health emergency will be lifted, Montréal will plan a new shedule for the property tax sale.

Property tax sales are governed under the Charter of the Ville de Montréal, metropolis of Québec (R.S.Q. c. C‑11.4) and the Cities and Towns Act (R.S.Q. c. C-19).

The Charter of the ville de Montréal gives the city clerk the authority to auction off any property on which municipal taxes due prior to January 1^st, 2020 remain unpaid on the scheduled date of sale.

Before putting a property up for sale, the city attempt to recover any outstanding balance from the owner through various means.

Property or duties on transfer tax sale

Steps	Date	Accepted payment methods
Unpaid taxes notice	March 2020	- Online - At a counter or at an ATM of your financial institution - Payment in cash at any Montréal point of service. Please check the accepted amount. - Debit card at any Montréal point of service. Please check the allowed amount with your financial institution. - Personal cheque accepted until August 1^st, 2020 (by mail or at a Montréal point of service) Warning: Credit card payments are not accepted.
Tax sale notice - Summons to pay Adding $45 fees (recorded in the accounts on May 1^st, 2020) for any capital balance of $200 or more.	May 2020 (mailing date)
Last warning - tax sale	August 2020	- Online - At a counter or at an ATM of your financial institution - Payment in cash at any Montréal point of service. Please check the accepted amount. - Debit card. Please check the allowed amount with your financial institution - Certified cheque - Cheque drawn on a notary's trust account (pursuant to the rules of the Chambre des notaires du Québec) - Money order - Bank draft - Official cheque issued by a member of the Payments Canada Warning: - No personal cheque accepted after August 1^st, 2020. - Latest date to use payment methods which require a transmission delay : in coming (to avoid the publication) and in coming (to avoid the tax sale). - Credit card payments not accepted.
Issuing of list (1^st publication) Adding publication fees of up $2000	September 2020
Publication in a newspaper and on the Ville de Montréal Web site (only in french) Recording a pre-sale notification in the Land register of Québec Notice to mortgagee	September 2020
Property tax sale An updated list of properties is distribued on the morning of the sale.	November 2, 2020	Only: - Payment in cash - Certified cheque* - Bank draft* *Payable to Ville de Montréal

Where and how do I pay?
The payment methods vary according to the step of process. Please refer to the above table.

Payments by mail are registered on the date received by the city. If you send a cheque, it may not include payment for all interest accrued at the moment we receive your payment. If that is the case, your tax bill will not be deemed to have been paid in full.

You can send your payment to:

Service des finances
Ville de Montréal
C.P. 11 043, succursale Centre-Ville
Montréal (Québec)
H3C 4X8

For delivery of payments by messenger, please contact us to obtain the appropriate adress.

Will the list stay on Web site?
At the latest two weeks after the sale, the list and its updates are removed from the Web site.

My property was sold - My rights and obligations

The following questions and answers are provided solely for guidance. For information about your rights and obligations, please consult your notary or lawyer.

What happens with the money paid to the city? Do I get part of it?

When the city receives money for the sale of a property, it forwards this amount to the clerk of the Superior Court (Tel.: 514-393-2000).

A scheme of collocation is drawn up and the money distributed according to law.
My house was sold. Can I regain ownership?

Yes, a former owner can exercise its right of redemption to buy back a property that has been sold. This right may also be exercised by the former owner’s legal representatives or by a third party acting on behalf of the former owner. The buyer cannot contest this right.

The former owner has one year to exercise his or her redemption right. This deadline runs from the date of the property tax sale.

To exercise his or her redemption right, the former owner must pay the buyer the amount the latter paid plus 10% interest, at any time during the year that the redemption right is exercised. Since the redemption deed is produced in the form of a notarial act at the owner’s expense, you should first consult a notary about this procedure.

(Date of updating : August 20, 2020)

For more information, please:

Call your borough office;
Call the 311 (island of Montréal) or 514 872-0311 (outside Montréal);
Send us an e-mail.

The details contained here are for information only and have no legal value. The acts and by-laws posted on this site are for administrative purposes only, and although efforts are made to update them, they may not be the latest versions. Please check the sources before using the texts officially.