Power of Sale
Also known as: Power-of-sale · Power of sale foreclosure · Mortgage power of sale
Power of sale lets a lender sell a defaulted home without a court order. It does not exist in BC, where foreclosure runs through the Supreme Court instead.
Power of sale is a mortgage-default remedy that needs no court. The authority comes from a clause in the mortgage itself: once the borrower has defaulted, the lender may sell the property and apply the proceeds to the debt. No judge approves the sale, and no court confirms the price. It is the standard remedy in Ontario and Newfoundland and in several US states.
The process is set by provincial statute rather than by a court. In Ontario, the Mortgages Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. M.40, s. 32) sets the two waiting periods that shape the timeline: notice of exercising the power of sale cannot be given until the default has continued for at least fifteen days, and the sale cannot be made for at least thirty-five days after that notice is given. The notice goes to the borrower and to everyone else registered on title with an interest, and any of them may stop the sale by paying out the arrears and costs before it closes. After the sale the lender must account to the borrower for any surplus; if the sale falls short of the debt, the borrower generally remains liable for the difference.
None of that applies in British Columbia. A BC lender cannot sell on its own authority; it petitions the Supreme Court of British Columbia for an Order Nisi, which sets a redemption period, typically six months. If the borrower does not redeem, the lender returns to court for an Order for Conduct of Sale: the property is listed on MLS, and offers must be approved by the court. Competing buyers may attend the confirmation hearing and bid against the accepted offer in the room.
This is where people arriving from Ontario or the US are most often working from the wrong model: the assumption that a missed payment puts the lender in a position to sell. In BC the lender must commence a court petition, the borrower holds a redemption period, and even after Order Nisi retains rights including reinstatement and, in many cases, accelerated redemption. A typical BC residential foreclosure runs 9 to 18 months from first missed payment to court-confirmed sale. The court supervision is more protective of the borrower than a power-of-sale province, and it is also why BC lenders carry a slightly higher risk premium than on equivalent Ontario paper.
Frequently asked questions
- What does power of sale mean?
- It means the mortgage contract gives the lender the right to sell the property after the borrower defaults, without asking a court for permission. The lender serves notice, waits out the statutory period, sells, applies the proceeds to the debt, and accounts to the borrower for anything left over. Because no judge reviews the sale, it is faster than a court-supervised foreclosure, which is the reason lenders prefer it where it is available. British Columbia is not one of those places: a BC lender has to go through the Supreme Court of British Columbia instead.
- How does the power of sale process work?
- The borrower defaults, and the waiting periods in the province's mortgage statute start to run. In Ontario, under the Mortgages Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. M.40, s. 32), the lender cannot give notice until the default has continued for at least fifteen days, and cannot sell for at least thirty-five days after giving that notice. The notice goes to the borrower and to every other party registered on title with an interest in the property. Any of them can stop the sale by paying the arrears and the lender's costs before it closes. If nobody does, the lender sells on the open market, and any surplus after the debt and costs belongs to the borrower.
- Does British Columbia use power of sale?
- No. British Columbia uses judicial foreclosure, which means a court runs the process from beginning to end. The lender petitions the Supreme Court of British Columbia for an Order Nisi, which grants the borrower a redemption period, usually six months. If the borrower does not redeem, the lender applies for an Order for Conduct of Sale, the property is listed on MLS, and the court must approve the eventual price at a confirmation hearing where other buyers may appear and bid. The whole sequence typically takes 9 to 18 months.
- Is a BC foreclosure faster or slower than a power of sale?
- Slower, by a wide margin. An Ontario power of sale can complete inside a couple of months once the statutory notice periods have run. A BC judicial foreclosure typically runs 9 to 18 months from the first missed payment, because the six-month redemption period and the court confirmation hearing are both built into the process. For a borrower in difficulty that time is protection. For a buyer shopping BC foreclosures it means a longer, less certain transaction: the property sells as is, where is, with no Property Disclosure Statement, and a competing bidder can appear at the confirmation hearing.
Related terms
- BC Foreclosure (Court-Order Sale) — BC foreclosure runs through the courts rather than by private sale, so a judge sets the timeline.
- OSFI Mortgage Stress Test (B-20) — OSFI Guideline B-20 requires federally-regulated lenders to qualify mortgage borrowers at the greater of (a) the contract rate plus 2 percentage points or (b) the 5.
- BC Land Title Office (LTSA) — The BC land registration system operated by the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) under the Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_foreclosure_court_order_sale,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{BC residential foreclosure — court-order sale process}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {1996},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale},
urldate = {2026-05-09},
note = {Fact ID: bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale, version 1.}
}Job, B. (1996). BC residential foreclosure — court-order sale process. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-05-09, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale
BC residential foreclosure — court-order sale process — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-05-09). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale
Fact id: bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale.json
Verified sources (3)· re-verified Aug 2, 2026Show sources
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BC Governmentretrieved May 9, 2026Law and Equity Act, RSBC 1996, c. 253https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96253_01
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 2, 2026Supreme Court Civil Ruleshttps://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/168_2009_01
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 2, 2026Courthouse serviceshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/courthouse-services
bc.foreclosure.court_order_sale · v1View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Power of Sale", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/power-of-sale.
