We take pride in providing comprehensive coverage for your clients. We often get asked about two specific issues affecting the City of Ottawa and the coverage afforded under our policy.

Coverage for Better Homes Ottawa – Loan Program

The Better Homes Ottawa – Loan Program is a City of Ottawa pilot loan program aiming to support residents wanting to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by making home energy improvements. Since arrears of amounts due for local improvement charges are added to the realty tax bill, they are a lien on title.

Under TitlePLUS Owner and Lender policies, if there is a lien or charge on title because of a local improvement charge, there’s coverage for the part of the total amount of the charge which had accrued prior to the Policy Date (subject to the terms and conditions of the policy).

Coverage for Vacant Unit Tax

By-law 2022-135 of the City of Ottawa provides:

The Vacant Unit Tax, together with any interest levied for failure to pay the tax in accordance with this by-law, will be collected as real property taxes and added to the tax roll for the property, pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Act.

Amounts due as arrears of the Vacant Unit Tax are added to the tax roll of the property. Under TitlePLUS Owner and Lender policies, there is coverage if there is a lien or charge on title because of a tax (subject to the terms and conditions of the policy).

There is also coverage if after the Policy Date, the municipality assesses supplemental real estate taxes not previously assessed against the Land for any period before the Policy Date (subject to the terms and conditions of the policy).

We hope this coverage provides you and your clients peace of mind for the City of Ottawa issues. Please see our sample policies.

For any further questions, please contact Shawna Ramsay, TitlePLUS National Consultant at [email protected]