The Dossier · 1948 Oakdean Crescent, Ottawa
The Mortgage Crisis
How the property came to the brink of forced sale, what a Power of Sale would have meant under Ontario law, and how the crisis was averted at the last moment.
What is a Power of Sale — and why it mattered here
In Ontario, a Power of Sale is the lender's statutory remedy under the Mortgages Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.40. Unlike foreclosure (rare in Ontario), the lender does not take ownership of the property — it sells the property to recover the mortgage debt, and any surplus after the debt, costs, and other encumbrances belongs to the owners. The lender must issue a Notice of Sale Under Mortgage and observe a statutory redemption period (typically 35+ days) before selling. This was the path this property was heading down before the mortgage was paid out.
How close this property came
- The court order dated [Date of Order] required Francisco (Frank) Alas to buy out the property and refinance the mortgage. That did not happen.
- The Scotiabank mortgage matured in June 2026 and was not renewed. Payments stopped within days of maturity.
- By July 16, 2026, Scotiabank confirmed in writing that the account was 41 days delinquent, and set out the escalation path: collections at 90 days, referral to a litigator at six months.
- In mid-2026, Francisco (Frank) Alas borrowed from a private lender and paid out the Scotiabank mortgage in full — averting the forced sale, but only after weeks of documented delinquency.
The credit consequences
Canadian credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion) use ratings from R0 to R9, with R9 — a debt sent to collections or written off — the most severe. Because both parties remained on the mortgage covenant, every missed month of this delinquency was reportable against both credit files — including that of the party who did everything the court asked. Delinquency reporting of this kind can take years to repair, and had the account reached collections at the 90-day mark, both files would have carried the R9.
This is the true cost of the breach: months of documented mortgage delinquency reported against the credit of a party who complied with the court order in full — and a rescue that required high-cost private-lender money.
Why a transparent sale helps everyone
- A sale at fair market value remains in both owners' interest — the dispute is over conduct and money, not the house itself.
- A fast, open sale stops the accrual of carrying costs, including the cost of the private-lender borrowing used to pay out the bank.
- Public documentation ensures that every dollar of the process can be accounted for. (See: The Bank's Role.)