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BC Real Estate Glossary

Power of Sale (NOT used in BC)

Also known as: Power-of-sale · POS foreclosure · Mortgage power of sale

A non-judicial foreclosure mechanism where the mortgage contract authorizes the lender to sell the property without court approval — used in Ontario and many US states, but NOT used in British Columbia, which uses court-supervised foreclosure (Order Nisi + Conduct of Sale).

Power of sale is a NON-judicial mortgage-default remedy authorized by a contractual term in the mortgage itself, allowing the lender to sell the property without court approval. Power of sale is the dominant default remedy in Ontario, Newfoundland, and several US states — but it is NOT used in British Columbia. BC mortgages use the BC Supreme Court foreclosure process (Order Nisi → Order for Conduct of Sale → court-confirmed sale; see /glossary/foreclosure-bc-court-order-sale).

The trap most newcomers from Ontario or US states fall into: assuming "the bank can take my house if I miss a payment." In BC, the lender must commence a Supreme Court petition, the borrower has a redemption period (typically 6 months), and even after Order Nisi the borrower retains rights including reinstatement and (in many cases) accelerated redemption. The court oversight materially slows the process — typical BC residential foreclosure runs 9-18 months from first missed payment to final court-confirmed sale. This is more borrower-protective than power-of-sale jurisdictions, but also means BC lenders price mortgages with a slightly higher embedded risk premium than equivalent Ontario product.

Related terms

  • BC Foreclosure (Court-Order Sale) — BC's judicial (court-supervised) foreclosure process — the lender petitions BC Supreme Court for an Order Nisi, the borrower has a redemption period (typically 6 months), then the court issues an Order for Conduct of Sale and approves offers at a court hearing where competing buyers may bid.
  • 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 Bank of Canada qualifying rate (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

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BibTeX — LaTeX, academic
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_foreclosure_court_order_sale,
  author       = {Job, Bronson},
  title        = {{BC residential foreclosure — court-order sale process}},
  howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
  year         = {2026},
  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.}
}
APA — Press, journalism
Job, B. (2026). 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
Plain link — Slack, email, Twitter
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

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Bronson Job PREC, REALTOR®
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