non-winning bids

[ChrisCentral]

Q: What happens to non-winning tender packages? If you are in attendance can you bring them home following the sale or do you have to wait until the municipality sends them by mail?

I know I have read on the forum this before but I cannot find the information again?

Thanks!!

[shah]

It depends on the treasurer of each municipality. Some do return on the spot by looking at your ID but some prefer to mail it back to you next day.

[ChrisCentral]

Thanks

[ruok]

If the winner of the first place tender decides not to proceed, then it goes to the 2nd place bid. What if the 2nd place bidder decides that they do not want to proceed? Will they also lose their 20% ? Not sure if I've heard that discussed before.

[g2020]

Yes, if the second high tender backs out then they will also lose their deposit of at least 20%. However, when additional information is discovered too late to withdraw your tender, it is better to lose your deposit than to own something that you would not be able to sell (contamination, government liens, zoning etc.).

[Frank]

Yes, if the second high tender backs out then they will also lose their deposit of at least 20%. However, when additional information is discovered too late to withdraw your tender, it is better to lose your deposit than to own something that you would not be able to sell (contamination, government liens, zoning etc.).

Right on...First and second stand to lose their deposit if they don't go through with their offer.  These monies go into the general funds of the Municipality, and are not applied against the taxes in arrears.  I've seen many an idiot find out after the fact that they bid on s__t, and lose their deposit.  In a number of cases they will go political (if they are locals), and cry that they have lost their child's tuition funds on a bad decision.  Tax collectors are not nice people, they are usually hired because they are not nice, and they know how to say no to a Councillor or Mayor....been there, done that. 

[ChrisCentral]

Does the property get offered to the third, fourth and so on - or does the Municipality retain in the event of a double default by the two highest tenders?

[ruok]

Good question Chris. If the 1st and 2nd winners walk away from their deposit, will the Municipality try and dump it on a third victim?

[Dave2]

Good question Chris. If the 1st and 2nd winners walk away from their deposit, will the Municipality try and dump it on a third victim?

Defer to this guy  on exact legal situation but in general I think the relevant question in this case is why which can be all over the map?   

Some cases the municipality may retender or vest the land if there is nothing wrong with it.   

[ruok]

Trent Hills has been listing the same properties on occasion over the years. So you are saying that they would rather re-tender than vest the land ? Guess that makes sense if there are zoning or access issues.

[baller50]

they only hold 1st and 2nd depsoit,,, the rest get sent back immediately... so they CANT hold on to 3-4 etc..

[ChrisCentral]

thanks baller... does this hold true for all sales?

[Frank]

Only the first and second are in play according to the rules. 

Municipalities now have up to two years to vest.  Depending on the property they may do so immediately, or they may drag their heels.  Once the sale has occurred and there are no winning bids, they have the power to enter onto the property and do a full environmental assessment of it, which they will do in the event of property that is suspected of contamination.  The reason for doing this in those instances is clear.  Most of them now have Brownfields policies which allow them to go out for tender bids or proposals from 'White Knights".  These are usually developers who  can come in, and spend the million to clean up the property, put another several million into an enterprise to make it worth something, and what they get in return is a tax break for the next number of years on the newly assessed property, usually up to the amount that they have spent to do the clean up on the property. 

It is a cool way of getting dirty properties cleaned up, and put back to a good use.

They also have the option of walking from the tax registration, and then re-registering it to have a repeat sale a year later. 

[bobs]

I actually had a township once keep my third place bid until the first had paid the balance.  No matter how much I told the treasurer he was wrong and he had to give my deposit back he refused.  I received it in the mail about three weeks later.

[Frank]

I actually had a township once keep my third place bid until the first had paid the balance.  No matter how much I told the treasurer he was wrong and he had to give my deposit back he refused.  I received it in the mail about three weeks later.

Unfortunately there are a lot of small burgs out there that can't afford to hire knowledgable staff.  They can appoint anybody, even the dog catcher, to be the Treasurer and therefore the tax collector, or have the Treasurer also be the dog catcher and Chief Building Official (It is most common to have a Clerk/Treasurer of Administrator situation). 

The rules are clear, the Municipality stands in third place, and why they would want to put anyone else in there ahead of themselves is beyond me.  From a practical point of view it wasn't worth your bucks to hire a lawyer and serve them, and in the end who knows, you might have been awarded a property that you had no right to, at third place bucks...lucky you.   The only time third place is important is if one of the two ahead of you is declared informal and disqualified....insufficient deposit is usually the problem...but these types of issues should be known within a day of the tender opening.