Efficient Mortgage Enforcement, Meet The Ontario Civil Court System

A mortgagor has been in default for months. The mortgage lender has acted in good faith and accepted at face value the borrower's explanations and plans to either bring the mortgage back into good standing or find alternate financing. But then nothing actually happens. Eventually the lender realizes that enforcement by way of power of sale or foreclosure is necessary. The mortgage agreement appears to provide the lender with every enforcement right imaginable, so enforcement should be quick and easy, right? In most cases, no.

Ontario remains a jurisdiction that allows for private enforcement of mortgages, where court proceedings are not necessary in every case. But for residential mortgages, private enforcement is limited to circumstances involving vacant properties, or where the borrowers or their tenants agree to leave voluntarily (this is almost never the case).