By Tax Sale Compass Editorial Team, Cloudy Days Retail Inc.
Last reviewed: October 1, 2026
Two features set the British Columbia municipal tax sale apart: municipalities under the Local Government Act hold it on the same statutory date and hour, and a successful bidder does not get title until a one-year redemption period has run. The rules sit in Division 7 of Part 16 of the Local Government Act, Revised Statutes of British Columbia 2015, Chapter 1 ("Annual Municipal Tax Sale", sections 645 to 672), with definitions borrowed from the Community Charter. The City of Vancouver follows its own rules in Part XX of the Vancouver Charter, covered near the end.
We checked each point against BC Laws, the official King's Printer site, where both Acts were shown as current to September 22, 2026. For other provinces, see Provincial Tax Sale Systems and Redemption Periods by Province.
The Community Charter sets the clock in two steps:
The annual tax sale offers each parcel "on which taxes are delinquent" (Local Government Act, section 645(1)). In practice, taxes for one year that are never paid become delinquent at the end of the next year, and the parcel goes to the September sale after that.
"At 10 a.m. on the last Monday in September, at the council chambers, the collector must conduct the annual tax sale" by public auction (section 645(1)). If that Monday is a holiday, the sale moves to the next Monday that is not a holiday (section 645(2)). The collector may adjourn to the same hour the next day, and day to day until every parcel is dealt with, and may act as auctioneer (section 645(3) and (4)). In 2026 the last Monday in September fell on September 28.
Council may, by bylaw, exempt real property owned by the Provincial government from the sale (section 646).
Section 649 builds the minimum price from four pieces:
"The total of the amounts under subsection (1) is the upset price and the lowest amount for which the parcel may be sold" (section 649(2)). Unlike Alberta, there is no market-value reserve: the floor is the tax debt plus the 5% and the fees.
The highest bidder above the upset price is declared the purchaser; if no one bids above it, a bidder at the upset price is (section 650(1)). If there is no bid at the upset price, the municipality is declared the purchaser, and the collector may offer the parcel again later in the same sale (section 650(2) and (3)). A person authorized by council may bid for the municipality up to a council-set maximum (section 648).
Payment is immediate: if a purchaser fails to pay the collector the purchase price right away, the collector must promptly offer the parcel again (section 650(4)). Before receiving the certificate of sale, the purchaser signs a statement with their full name, occupation and address, authorizing the collector to apply later to register their title (section 651).
After the sale, the collector signs and gives the purchaser a certificate that describes the parcel, states the sale price, and states that an indefeasible title will be applied for on the purchaser's behalf at the end of one year from the date of sale unless the property is redeemed or the sale is cancelled for error (section 652). That certificate is a receipt and a promise, not a title.
Promptly after the sale, the collector files a notice of the tax sale in the land title office (section 656). Within 3 months, the collector must notify the registered owner and every registered charge holder of the sale and of the day the redemption period ends (section 657(1)).
During the redemption period:
To redeem, the person pays the collector, for the purchaser, the upset price, the maintenance costs the collector has been told about, any taxes the purchaser advanced, and interest at a prescribed rate on the amount the purchaser paid above the upset price and on those other sums (section 660(3)). The purchaser then receives from the municipality everything they paid, with interest at the prescribed rate (section 660(5)). The rate is the one prescribed under section 11(3) of the Taxation (Rural Area) Act; check the current figure with the municipality.
Where the municipality was declared purchaser and has not resold the parcel, council may by bylaw extend the redemption period for one year only (section 660(6)), and where the municipality bought improved land, section 661 allows redemption by instalments. A municipality that bought at the sale may also resell within 9 months for not less than the upset price plus interest, but that resale does not shorten the owner's redemption rights (section 655).
Inside the redemption period, council may cancel a sale for a manifest error and refund the purchaser with interest (section 668), and a former owner or charge holder may sue to set the sale aside on limited grounds, such as the taxes having been paid or required notice not having been given (section 666).
At the end of the period, the collector forwards a notice to the registrar of land titles with the purchaser's application for title (section 663(1) and (2)). That notice operates as a conveyance and as a quit claim of earlier owners' interests and of claims, charges, liens, judgments and mortgages, whether registered or not, except the interests that continue under section 276(1)(c) to (g) of the Land Title Act (section 663(5)). After the redemption period ends, no action may be brought to recover the property or set aside the sale (section 669(1)).
Money paid above the upset price goes, without interest, to the person who owned the property at the time of the sale, on written application to council, unless someone else claims it, in which case it is paid into the Supreme Court (section 659(1) to (3)). If it is still unclaimed 6 months after the redemption period, council must publish a newspaper notice, and 3 months after that the money goes to the administrator under the Unclaimed Property Act (section 659(5) and (6)).
The Vancouver Charter keeps its own schedule and arithmetic in Part XX:
| Point | Local Government Act municipalities | City of Vancouver (Vancouver Charter) |
|---|---|---|
| Sale date | 10 a.m., last Monday in September (section 645) | 10 a.m., first Wednesday in November in even-numbered years and second Wednesday in November in odd-numbered years (section 422) |
| Eligibility | Taxes delinquent (Community Charter section 246) | Taxes delinquent for two years (section 422); taxes are delinquent if unpaid at close of business December 31 of the levy year (section 411) |
| Public notice | Last publication 3 to 10 days before sale (section 647) | General notice during October before the sale, and in one issue of the Gazette (section 424) |
| Upset price | Taxes and interest, current taxes, 5%, Land Title fees (section 649) | Delinquent taxes and interest, plus 5% of them or $3, whichever is greater, plus the current land title office charge (section 427) |
| Paying | Purchase price immediately (section 650(4)) | Upset price immediately (section 429); balance and delinquent taxes due one year after the sale began unless redeemed (section 430) |
| Redemption | One year from the day the sale began (section 660) | Within one year from the day the sale began, by repaying the purchaser's sums with interest at six per cent per year (section 437) |
In Vancouver, a purchaser whose parcel is not redeemed receives a demand for the balance and has 30 days from its mailing to pay; if they do not, the amount they paid is forfeited to the city (sections 439 to 441).
Invented for illustration. The municipality, parcel and tax amounts are hypothetical. No figure is given for Land Title Act fees or the prescribed interest rate, because both are set outside the Local Government Act and must be confirmed with the municipality.
The fictional District of Cedar Inlet has a house whose 2025 taxes were never paid. They became taxes in arrear on December 31, 2025 and delinquent on December 31, 2026, so the house is on the list for the annual tax sale at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 27, 2027. The owner must receive written notice by August 28, 2027, and the last public notice must run between September 17 and September 24, 2027.
The collector works out the upset price under section 649: a hypothetical $9,000 of delinquent taxes, arrears and interest, plus a hypothetical $3,000 of 2027 taxes and penalties, plus 5% of that $12,000 ($600), plus the fees prescribed under the Land Title Act. So the upset price is $12,600 plus those fees. Bidding ends at a hypothetical $60,000. The buyer pays the collector on the spot, signs the section 651 statement and receives a certificate of sale. By December 27, 2027, the owner and the mortgage lender receive notice that the redemption period ends on September 27, 2028.
Path A, redeemed. In June 2028 the lender redeems to protect its mortgage. It pays the upset price, any taxes the buyer advanced, and interest at the prescribed rate on the amount the buyer paid above the upset price and on those other amounts (section 660(3)). The buyer gets back the full $60,000 plus interest at the prescribed rate and never takes title (section 660(5)).
Path B, not redeemed. No one redeems by September 27, 2028. The collector sends the notice and title application to the land title office, and the buyer becomes registered owner, free of the old mortgage. The money paid above the upset price is paid, without interest, to the former owner on written application, or into the Supreme Court if the lender or someone else claims it (section 659).
Tax Sale Compass, operated by Cloudy Days Retail Inc. of Cold Lake, Alberta, is an information service. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Tax Sale Compass is not the auctioneer or the collector and is not a party to any sale. Every sale must be verified with the municipality that published the notice, and you should get advice from a British Columbia lawyer before you bid.