You've been served a Notice of Sale. What the next 35 days look like

It arrives by registered mail, from a law firm you have never heard of, and the first page says Notice of Sale Under Mortgage in capitals. Read the date on it before anything else. The lender has to wait thirty-five days from that date before it can sell, and those days are the ones in which a homeowner still has real choices. Here is how to spend them.

The notice is in a form prescribed under the Mortgages Act↗, and it tells you three things you need. The date it was given: under section 34 a notice sent by registered mail is given on the day it was mailed, so the postmark and the date on the letter both matter, and the earlier one is the safe one to count from. The amount claimed: the arrears, the accelerated balance, interest to a stated date, and the lender's costs, itemized. And the date after which the lender says it will sell, which section 32 requires to be at least thirty-five days after the notice was given.

Check the arithmetic against your own statement. A notice that overstates the arrears, charges interest at a rate above the one in your commitment letter, or claims legal costs that bear no relation to a form letter is a notice with problems in it. Section 8 of the Interest Act forbids a higher rate on arrears than on the principal not in arrears, and section 43(4) of the Mortgages Act lets you have the lender's costs assessed without a court order. Neither fixes itself. Both are a reason to have a lawyer read the notice in the first week.

Section 32 forbids a sale for at least thirty-five days after the notice, and section 42 forbids the lender from starting any court action to enforce the mortgage during that period without a judge's leave. It is the redemption period. Inside it, section 22 still applies in full: you can pay the arrears plus the lender's necessary expenses and the default is cured, the mortgage carries on, and the lender has to accept the money. That is reinstatement, and it is explained in how power of sale works and how to stop it. The alternative is redemption, paying the whole balance out, usually with a refinance.

Put the numbers into the power of sale timeline with the notice date and it will give you the earliest day the lender can list, and the day your statement of defence would be due if a claim were served that day. Then treat the day before the earliest sale date as your deadline for money, because that is what the lender's lawyer is treating it as.

1. 01Keep the envelope. The postmark is evidence of when the notice was given, and a notice given inside the fifteen days of default is defective. Photograph the envelope, the notice and any enclosures before anything gets separated.
2. 02Send the section 22(2) request today. A written demand for a statement of the arrears and the lender's expenses. The lender has fifteen days to answer, and its right to enforce is suspended until it does. Send it by email to the law firm on the notice and keep the sent copy.
3. 03Pull the file. Your commitment letter, your last three statements, the standard charge terms if you have them, proof of every payment you did make, and every letter or email from the lender in the last six months. One folder, in date order.
4. 04Work out which of three doors you are walking through. Reinstate, redeem, or sell. Reinstatement needs the arrears plus costs, in cash, inside the period. Redemption needs a new lender, and a refinance takes three to six weeks to close. A sale on your own terms needs a listing this week and a written agreement from the lender to hold off while it runs.
5. 05Talk to a broker on day two, not day twenty. If redemption or a sale-and-carry is the plan, the timeline for a new mortgage is the whole problem. A broker who knows the closing date has to land inside the thirty-five days can sometimes get it there.
6. 06Do not sign anything the lender's lawyer sends you. A forbearance agreement will contain an acknowledgment of the debt and often a consent to judgment for possession. Both are negotiable before you sign. Neither is negotiable after.
7. 07Book legal advice inside the first week. A lawyer who sees the notice on day four can assess the costs, challenge a defective notice, and negotiate a sale window. A lawyer who sees it on day thirty is doing damage control.

A notice given before the default was fifteen days old, a notice that did not go to a later mortgagee or an execution creditor entitled to it under section 31, a notice that misstates the amount owing, or a sale that starts inside the thirty-five days is a defective exercise of the power. Before the sale closes, a defective notice can be set aside and the lender sent back to the start, which buys another fifty days. After closing, section 35 makes the lender's statutory declarations conclusive and section 36 protects the buyer's title, leaving you a damages claim against the lender rather than the house. The window for challenging the process is the period itself.

On or after the date in the notice, the lender lists the property. In the same week it usually issues a statement of claim in the Superior Court for possession and for the debt. That is a separate document with a separate clock: twenty days to deliver a statement of defence under rule 18.01 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, and a notice of intent to defend inside that period adds ten more. Served with a statement of claim walks through those twenty days. Missing them means default judgment, a writ of possession, and a date with the sheriff.

Section 23 of the Act gives you one more chance even after the claim is issued. On payment of $100 into court as security for costs, you can apply to have the action dismissed on paying the arrears and the costs of the action. It is later, more expensive and less certain than section 22, and it is still better than a judgment.

If the house sells, the lender applies the price to its costs, the debt and any later mortgages, and returns any surplus to you. If the price does not cover the debt, the lender can sue for the difference, and a shortfall claim has a ten-year limitation period. A sale below market value is the defence to that claim, which is one more reason to keep every listing, showing and offer record you can get.

A private lender or a mortgage investment corporation sends the notice sooner, waits less, and adds more in fees. Its notice is governed by the same sections of the Act and the same thirty-five days. What changes is the arithmetic of reinstatement, because the term has usually expired and the lender is under no obligation to renew. Private and B-lender mortgages in default covers what those lenders can and cannot charge.

Everything above is the law as it stands in August 2026.

Thirty-five days is enough time to reinstate, refinance, or sell on your own terms, and it is only enough if the first week is spent on it. If a Notice of Sale has reached you anywhere in the GTA or Ontario, Telesh Law Firm Professional Corp can read it, assess the lender's costs, and tell you which door is open, and you can read more about how we handle civil litigation.

• Deadlines
• Evidence & documents
• Step-by-step guide

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create a solicitor-client relationship. It is current as at its publication date and is not revised as the law changes. For advice on your specific situation, book a consultation or call 416-639-0887.

Written by

Caleesis Telesh

Founder & Principal Lawyer

LL.B. · B.A., York University · Member, Law Society of Ontario

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