SUNDRE – The Town of Sundre has obtained legal advice outlining options on how to proceed with the ongoing tax recovery sale of a residential property.
“The next steps are, we will be issuing a demand letter to the property owner,” said Chris Albert, the town's director of corporate services, who presented a report to council during the Jan. 20 meeting.
“There’s a set timeframe in that demand letter that outlines things for the owner to do,” said Albert, later adding the town's legal counsel had sent the document earlier that day.
The letter outlines the options that the owner has including the opportunity to pay the outstanding amounts or voluntarily vacate the property and turn it over to the Town of Sundre.
“It further outlines that should neither option be selected in a timely manner, the Town (of Sundre) will proceed with further legal actions through the courts.”
The development is a continuation of a lengthy process that ultimately led to an auction this past October that did not yield any bids.
“If that demand letter is not responded to, then the next step is an application to the courts for possession,” Albert told council, adding the court would in that event “decide when the owner must vacate the property.”
Should the process reach that point, the municipality would then obtain ownership and begin to take the next steps, he said.
“Once the town has ownership, it is important to note that we can no longer assess taxes and we do become legally liable for the property,” he told council.
Elaborating on definitions, Albert said the Municipal Government Act differentiates between possession, more or less meaning occupation, and ownership, meaning having the primary name on title and being entitled to make decisions for that property.
He also emphasized that the owner can still pay the outstanding balance owed.
“With this whole process, even up to this point the owner does still have the option to come in and pay the tax arrears and stop the process,” he said. “That is always an option throughout this entire process.”
However, the amount owed at this point also factors in expenses accrued throughout the process.
“Legal costs and anything associated with the tax recovery process does get added as an outstanding debt and can be recovered from the property owner or the proceeds of sale when we get to that point,” he said.
In the event there are funds remaining from the proceeds of the sale, if that should come to pass, those monies would go into a trust to be distributed as required under the MGA, he said, emphasizing that does not mean there would be a windfall and that the municipality is only collecting what it’s owed and following provincial regulations.
Coun. Todd Dalke asked whether the property was vacant.
“As far as I know, it is currently occupied,” said Albert.
Providing further clarification to a question raised by mayor Richard Warnock, Albert said that even once the municipality is on the title, the owner still has “the opportunity to pay out the outstanding debts and we will remove ourselves from title.”
But that remains a proverbial bridge farther down the road as the process has not even yet reached the point of being referred to the courts.
“Right up until basically almost the property is sold, the property owner can come in and pay that debt and stop the process,” he said.
Council carried a motion accepting the report for information.
According to additional background information outlined in council’s agenda package, legal counsel advised the municipality to first proceed with obtaining a vacant possession of the property and then proceed with acquisition.
Other options that were also outlined included obtaining non-vacant acquisition or doing nothing further.
“Not proceeding at all is a limited option that should always be considered but rarely actioned, as doing so can provide a significant precedence,” reads the report in part, later going onto add “…there are liability concerns with acquiring a non-vacant property and proceeding with next steps also becomes more challenging.”
The recommended action of obtaining vacant possession involved “legal counsel first sending a demand letter to the property owner, which while not required is a good faith effort to resolve the situation prior to court action.”
