Property Tax Sale

The Local Government Act requires the Town to sell, at tax sale, any properties with taxes unpaid for three years. Under the Act, the Collector (the Town) has the authority to sell a property at the upset price, which includes all outstanding taxes, penalties, and interest, along with a 5% tax sale fee and applicable Land Title Office fees.

All properties are sold “as is,” without warranty or guarantee by the Town of Osoyoos.

Date of the Tax Sale

Public Notice (Advertising)

The Local Government Act requires municipalities to publish and advertise tax sale information in advance, including legal descriptions and street addresses of affected properties.

Property owners who wish to avoid having their address publicly listed must pay all delinquent taxes and interest before the publication date, which may be up to ? weeks prior to the tax sale.

Purchasing Property

Prospective bidders are responsible for reviewing the property title in advance to identify any registered charges.

The minimum bid is the upset price.

Upon purchasing, payment must be remitted immediately in the form of guaranteed funds (cash, certified cheque or bank draft) for the full bid amount. If payment is not remitted, the Collector (the Town) will offer the property for sale again.

If there are no bids after three calls by the Collector (auctioneer), the Town will be declared the purchaser at the upset price.

The Collector (the Town) is required, by law, to search all property titles and, within 90 days after the tax sale, notify all registered charge holders shown on each property.

Property Buy Back (Redemption)

The Collector (the Town) is required by law to notify the original property owner(s) of the sale within 90 days following a tax sale. Property owners have the right to redeem their property within one year by paying all applicable taxes, fees, and interest.

To redeem a property purchased by a private bidder or the Town, the original owner(s) must pay the full upset price, plus interest on the purchase price at a rate set by the Province, within one year of the sale.

If the property was purchased by the Town and improvements have been made, the original owner(s) may pay 50 per cent of the upset price, plus interest, as an instalment. This extends the redemption period by an additional 11 months and 21 days.

For purchasers, if a property is redeemed by the original owner(s), the purchase price will be refunded along with interest up to the date of redemption.

For more information on rights during the redemption period, refer to Section 665 of the Local Government Act.

Property Not Redeemed

If the property isn’t redeemed by the original owners(s) during the one-year period following the Tax Sale, the Collector (the Town) registers the new owner at the provincial Land Titles Office, thus cancelling all previous registered charges, except for those matters set out in Section 276(1)(c) to (g) of the Land Title Act and any lien of the Crown, an improvement district or a local district.

The new owners are required to pay the property transfer tax to the Provincial Sales Tax Administrator after application has been made to register in the Land Titles Office.