The housing market these days is moving very quickly often with houses selling for over listing and without conditions. With the market moving as fast as it is, this can cause issues for new homeowners looking to secure their land title.

Currently, there is a backlog and the Alberta Land Titles office, which means that until the land titles have been transferred, the real estate transaction is not fully complete, and with land titles providing proof of ownership for a property this may mean that your property tax notice will not be sent to the current owner. 

By law tax notices are required to be sent to the legal owners of real estate, Alan Down Manager of Assessment and Tax with the Town of Strathmore explained what residents can do if they have not received their taxes by the first week of June.

“Give our tax department a call, particularly if you've purchased a home in the last six months, give our department a call to make sure that we have your information. What's happened is there is a delay at the land titles office and we may not have received the transferred documents so then we may have outdated information on the tax notice.”

Hayley Poirier with the Reps of Remax Key said for a home buyer there is good news, “You can still take possession of your home on the possession date that is on your contract. Most of the time, there is going to be the odd time when your lawyer is going to explain to you that possession has to occur on the date the title changes, but that's very infrequent.  99% of the time if you are buying a property that has a home on it you're going to be able to take possession on the possession date that's how it works in Alberta.“

Down also noted it is important for homeowners to take this step to avoid any penalties for missing the property tax deadline on June 30th of this year.