Reassurance

[thorgal]

HI,
Oki, so I found a property I like. I went and have seen it. It's nice. I also had done a title search. They owe a few thousands in tax arrears. Is this amount going to be covered by the money paid from the winning bid, or is it on top of the winning bid?
Also I found a recent document Transfer/Deed of Land between family members. They don't pay their taxes and then transfer the land a month before their land gets sold at an auction? Doesn't make sense to me.
What else can I check (other than title search) to complete my DD? Would crown liens be listed in the title search?
Can anyone help out with some answers/comments? It would be great!!!
Thorgal
What would a lawyer do for their fee? Check the title and and what else?
I just need some reassurance that I have researched all before bidding

[Rob]

The back taxes are on top of the bid and you will need to add in the GST amount as well.

A crown lien won't necessarily come up in the title search.  You can either find a lawyer or you might find a title searcher in the local registry office.  If the back taxes are only 1,000-2,000 then a strong possibility exists that you will not find a crown lien.  They are not as common as you would think..  So I would balance the costs of the search vs the chance of a crown lien.  Typically crown liens are found on business properties or expensive properties (although there is still a chance on any property).

For example 1 year ago several 1,000-2,000 min bid properties were listed.  They were small tracks of land on the side of the highway.  Not ideal for building.  If I was bidding for this property, I would gamble no crown lien existed.  On the other hand a factory that has closed down in the Ottawa area would be a good candidate to do a crown lien search.

[gap]

FYI:  One search I did included executiion creditors (can be same as crown lein) The law Society of Upper Canada (that was okay), but the second one was Legal Aid of Ontario.   I immediately assumed that was a crown lein...after all it's supported fully by the government, but guess what ?   It's not a crown corporation.
Just FYI

[Rob]

That is very interesting.  I would have definately thought legal aid was a crown corporation.  I wonder how many other agencies aren't considered a crown lien.