Property taxes are a MAJOR monthly expense for all homeowners. The collection and portion of monthly property taxes are out of our control, but we have outlined below several payment options for your review:

OPTION #1 –

Pre Authorized debit plan with the City of Ottawa. The Pre-authorized Debit Plans (PAD) offers you the convenience of having no worries about overdue payments and can help you avoid large lump-sum payments. Enrolment in the Plan is free, and there are no service charges that apply.

Homeowners can set this up directly with the City of Ottawa as follows:

Step One – Pay your current bill in full

Your tax account must be at a zero balance to qualify for this plan.

Step Two – Enrol

There are several ways to enrol:

1. Log in to My ServiceOttawa, and follow the instructions. OR

2. Open the Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) Plan Form and fill in the appropriate information and send it to Revenue at revenue.payment@ottawa.ca(link sends e-mail). OR

3. Request hardcopy form in writing to City of Ottawa, Revenue Branch, 100 Constellation Drive, 4th Floor East, Ottawa ON (K2G 6J8), or fax to 613-580-2457. Please include your name and address. OR

4. Contact the City of Ottawa by phone at 613-580-2444, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (September to May) 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (June to August) or by email at revenue.payment@ottawa.ca(link sends e-mail).

Note: You can also call #311 to reach the city and retrieve a password for the set-up of your MyServiceOttawa account. You can set up your tax payments, receive current and past property tax statements, and change payment methods when needed, and review payment history.

OPTION #2 –

Taxes collected by the Lender – property taxes can be included with your mortgage payments and collected on a monthly or bi-weekly schedule. The Lender may charge a monthly service fee for this service, and, depending on the closing date of your mortgage, there may be a lump sum tax holdback for the Lender to have enough funds to pay the next property tax installment.

Example: If your mortgage closes in January and the first tax installment is due in March, a lump sum payment will be held back from the mortgage proceeds to pay the first interim property tax installment. This option, although convenient, can be costly to set up.

Taxes are collected in advance and will sit in an account (without earning interest) until the next interim installment is due.

OPTION #3 –

You have the option to pay your property taxes as they become due. The City of Ottawa has two interim tax billings, so your total tax bill will be divided into two interim tax installments – the first one is due in March, and the final one is due in June.

For example, if your ESTIMATED 2017 tax bill is $3,500.00, $1,750 will be due in March, and the balance will be due in June.

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND OPTION #1 AS THE MOST EFFICIENT AND COST-EFFECTIVE FOR OUR VALUED CLIENTS

If you have questions, please call, email me or click here to book a personal appointment.