Ontario moves faster than anywhere else in Canada. Your lender does not need a court hearing — once the Notice of Sale is served and 35 days pass, they can sell. The good news is that the same speed works in reverse: acting inside that window usually ends it outright.
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Toronto property values mean most homeowners facing power of sale here have substantial equity at risk — often several hundred thousand dollars. That equity is exactly what a rushed lender sale erodes through legal costs and a below-market price, and exactly what a private sale or refinance preserves.
Once you are 15 days in default, your lender may serve a Notice of Sale Under Mortgage under the Mortgages Act. This is the document that starts everything.
The lender must wait 35 days after serving before selling. This is your entire statutory buffer, and it is also when reinstating is cheapest.
After the notice period the property can be listed and sold. The lender owes a duty to obtain fair market value, but challenging an improvident sale afterwards is a poor substitute for acting now.
The detail most Toronto homeowners miss: during the notice period you can normally reinstate by paying the arrears plus the lender’s costs — not the full mortgage balance. That figure is usually a fraction of what people assume, and it stops the sale completely.
Power of sale explained → · Full Ontario guide → · What would you walk away with? →
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