Tax Sale Process
Taxes must be paid by December 31st of each year or the unpaid amount carries over to the next year as arrears and will accrue interest on a daily basis according to the rates assigned by the provincial government.
Properties within a municipality which have outstanding property taxes from 2 years prior to the current year are subject to a tax sale as mandated by the Local Goverment Act (but not limited to) Division 7 section 645 to 672.
The tax sale is held annually on the last Monday of September at 10 a.m. at the council chambers in the Municipal Hall of each municipality in BC.
For more information on the Tax Sale Process please see the links below
Tax Sale General Information Questions and Answers Sheet
Advertising
The Local Government Act requires that the list of properties that will be auctioned at the tax sale be published according to the Community Charter and the Public Notice Bylaw 730 with the last notice issued no less than 3 days before the tax sale.
You can see the tax sale notice here.
Before Attending a Tax Sale
It is recommended that interested parties find information about the property through the following suggestions:
- Visit the property - while you are not given access to the interior of the building you can view the property from the curbside to get information on it's condidtion.
- Do a land title search - property information can be purchased online through www.ltsa.ca. This will tell you if there are any liens or chares on the property.
- Arrange for payment - Once the highest bidder is declared the purchaser must immediately pay the amount of the purchase price to the collector. This can be done through a certified cheque or, if the amount of the bid is unknown, a bank letter of authorization can be procured from your bank to authorize a written cheque.
- Check for updates - The property owners have until 10:00 AM on the tax sale date to pay their delinquent taxes. The front desk at town hall has an updated list drop in or call 250-242-4242 to see if the property you are interested is still on the list.