Mortgages and Foreclosure: Know Your Rights

Ray Covell was a librarian in Kelowna, British Columbia.

The large number of mortgage foreclosures during the past five years has produced the need for a book of this nature. David Goldenberg is a lawyer practising in Calgary, with special interests in corporate and commercial real estate law. This little book, however, will be useful reading for anyone who may be involved in foreclosure and, indeed, for anyone who has a mortgage.

The first half of the book attempts to unravel the legal language that surrounds the mystery of most mortgages. The second half explains, in layman’s terms, the serious situation that may arise if a mortgagee defaults for any reason. Goldenberg devotes a chapter to provincial variations in procedure, outlining how mortgages are dealt with in different jurisdictions, from British Columbia to Ontario, but not Quebec or the Atlantic provinces. He points out that only in Alberta and Saskatchewan are borrowers relieved from any personal liability in conventional mortgages; in other words, only in those two jurisdictions can a mortgagee “walk away from” a property with an unpaid mortgage.

Goldenberg writes in a very readable style and covers a lot of ground in a hundred pages. He answers many questions, such as “Do you have to make payments after legal action has begun?” and “Should you hire a lawyer?” He also explains the effects of a mortgage action (foreclosure) on credit ratings and other assets, the effects on a spouse, and the effects of a divorce.

Those who live in Ontario, the Prairie Provinces, or British Columbia, and have a mortgage, should read this book in order to know their rights and protect themselves. This book is one of a large number in the Self-Counsel Series.