MIKE ATHEY
CAMPBELL’S BAY Oct. 21, 2020
MRC Pontiac will be holding a public auction for property of individuals who are behind on their taxes, on Nov. 12 at the Campbell’s Bay RA Centre.
Starting at 10 a.m. a notary will begin auctioning off properties in an open bid style. The public is invited to take part.
A full list of properties available at the auction is listed on . . .
the MRC website. It is updated weekly as people pay off their taxes and are removed from the list; others are added when they don’t.
However, a winning bid doesn’t mean you own the property completely just yet.
“After the auction, the owner has one year minus one day to pay the taxes,” said MRC administrative technician Joanne Dumouchel, “If he or she does pay the taxes, then the person who bought the property…will be reimbursed with some interest.”
Municipal legal assistant Joelle Morrissette said the interest would amount to 10 per cent, with 7.5 per cent going to the bidder, and 2.5 going to the MRC for fees.
If after a year the original owner had still not paid off the taxes, the property would officially be transferred to the bidder and previous mortgages would be nullified. Several transfer fees would be charged to the new owner and Morrissette said usually these costs are around $1,200.
Morisette warned bidders not to pay the taxes themselves during the interim period and instead wait until the sale is complete. She said bidders won’t be reimbursed on those payments if the original owner resumes control.
However, there’s an open question on whether the auction will even happen now that parts of Quebec are locking down due to COVID-19 restrictions. It isn’t the first time the pandemic has put off this sale either.
“It usually takes place in May, the second Thursday of the month,” said Dumouchel, “It was [moved] to September but was cancelled a second time.”
