In Ontario the mortgage debt and the house are separate. Section 7(1) of the Land Registration Reform Act deems every registered charge to include your personal covenant to pay, so selling the house does not end the debt — only the part the house can pay. The shortfall survives as an ordinary contract debt, and section 43(1) of the Real Property Limitations Act gives the lender ten years to sue on it, not two. If two of you are on title you are each liable for the whole amount, not half. “Short sale” is a United States term with no Ontario meaning — what you are asking your lender for is FCAC’s “sale by borrower plan” or a negotiated discharge for less than the balance, and no Ontario law governs how the lender decides. Refinancing out is barred by section 418(1) of the Bank Act above 80 per cent loan-to-value.
You owe more on the mortgage than the house will sell for, or so close to it that the sale costs swallow whatever is left. Every article you have found on this uses the phrase “short sale” and none of it seems to describe Ontario. There is a reason for that, and it is the first thing worth understanding.
“Short sale” is not an Ontario concept. It is a United States term. It does not appear in the Mortgages Act, the Land Titles Act or the Land Registration Reform Act, and I could not find it on any page published by FSRA, RECO, CMHC, OSFI or the Government of Ontario. If you ask a Canadian lender for a short sale you will get a blank look. The two things you are actually asking for have Canadian names, and they are set out below.
The one sentence that explains everything
In Ontario the mortgage debt and the house are two separate things. Selling the house does not end the debt. It only ends the part of the debt the house can pay.
Every registered charge in Ontario is deemed by statute to include a personal promise to pay. Section 7(1) of the Land Registration Reform Act deems a charge to include a covenant that the chargor “will pay, in the manner provided by the charge, the money and interest it secures.” That promise is yours personally. It is not the house’s promise.
So when the sale proceeds fall short, the shortfall does not disappear at closing. It carries on as an ordinary contract debt that you still owe.
If two of you are on title, you each owe the whole shortfall
Section 7(2)(a) of the same Act provides that where a charge is given by more than one person the deemed covenants are made “by the chargors jointly and severally, unless the charge specifies otherwise.” Jointly and severally means the lender can pursue either of you for the entire amount. Not half each. The whole thing, from whichever of you is easier to collect from.
Section 7(3) allows that implied covenant to be excluded or varied — but only in a schedule or in the lender’s filed set of standard charge terms. So the wording that actually governs you is in your lender’s registered standard charge terms, not in the statute. Ask your lawyer to pull them.
The lender has ten years, not two
Most people assume the Ontario limitation period is two years, because for most claims it is. It is not for this one. Section 43(1) of the Real Property Limitations Act bars an action on a covenant to repay money secured by a mortgage after the later of ten years from when the cause of action arose and ten years from when the liable person’s interest in the land was transferred.
Read that again. A mortgage shortfall is a ten-year exposure, and on the second branch the clock can start running from the day you transferred the property — that is, from closing. Walking away from the house does not start a two-year countdown to freedom.
Why the lender gets a veto over your own sale
No Ontario statute requires your lender to consent to you selling your own house. Its leverage is narrower than that and far more effective: the charge does not come off title until the lender says it has been satisfied.
Section 102(1) of the Land Titles Act has the land registrar note the cessation of a charge “on due proof of the satisfaction of a charge thereon” or on the registered chargee’s own certificate of satisfaction. Your buyer needs clear title. Clear title needs that discharge. The discharge needs the lender to certify satisfaction while being paid less than it is owed.
That is the whole negotiation, and it is the reason a shortfall sale is a conversation with your lender before it is a listing.
Something I could not find, and you should know it. I looked for an Ontario statute, regulation, or FSRA or Ministry publication governing how a lender decides whether to accept less than the balance owing. There is none that I could locate. There is no prescribed process, no timeline, no obligation to consider the request and no appeal. It is a commercial negotiation with no rules published anywhere. Anyone who tells you otherwise should be asked for the citation.
What to ask your lender for, using the words they will recognise
Ontario has no short sale. It has two named things instead, and one of them is published by the federal regulator in plain language.
1. The “sale by borrower plan”
This is the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s own published term, and it is the closest functional match to what people mean by a short sale. FCAC describes it this way:
“With this plan, your financial institution allows you to sell your home for a fair market value. You continue to live in your home while it’s for sale. This is typically for a period of 90 days or less.”
Note what it is and is not. It is permission to run a proper sale rather than have the lender run a power of sale over your head. It is not a promise to forgive anything. But it is the phrase to use, and it appears on a Government of Canada page, so you are not inventing it.
2. A negotiated discharge for less than the balance
This is the unregulated part. You are asking the lender to certify satisfaction under section 102(1) of the Land Titles Act for less than it is owed, with the remainder either forgiven or converted to an unsecured debt. There is no framework for it. It is contract and persuasion.
The relief measures that exist before you get to a sale
FCAC publishes the menu. These are the exact published descriptions, not my paraphrase.
| Measure | What FCAC publishes |
|---|---|
| Payment deferral | “allows you to delay your mortgage payments for a specific period, usually up to 4 months” |
| Extended deferral | Longer than the standard four months. FCAC notes deferrals cap at predefined amounts such as $10,000, after which regular payments resume |
| Extending amortization | “lowers your mortgage payments” but “the longer you take to pay off your mortgage, the more you’ll pay in interest.” FCAC’s own worked example: a $300,000 mortgage at 5% costs $173,130 in interest over 20 years and $276,386 over 30 |
| Capitalization | “your financial institution allows you to add late payments to your mortgage principal” — which can include missed payments, interest, property taxes, utilities, repairs and condo fees |
| Interest only | Pay only the interest portion. Principal deferrals typically capped at $10,000 and repayable within about two years |
| Special payment arrangements | “may include reducing your mortgage payments for an agreed-upon period” |
| Sale by borrower plan | Sell at fair market value while living in the home, “typically for a period of 90 days or less” |
The one that matters most if you are selling
FCAC’s Guideline on Existing Consumer Mortgage Loans in Exceptional Circumstances, issued 5 July 2023, sets out what federally regulated financial institutions are expected to do for a consumer at risk of mortgage default. The first of the four expected measures is waiving prepayment penalties when the consumer makes a lump-sum payment or sells their residence.
If you are selling because you cannot afford to stay, and your lender is a federally regulated bank, ask it to waive the prepayment penalty and cite the guideline by name. It is an expectation, not a right, but it is published and it is specific to your situation. On a five-year fixed mortgage the penalty is frequently the difference between a shortfall and a clean closing.
The guideline defines the protected group as “natural persons with an existing residential mortgage loan on their principal residence who are experiencing severe financial stress, as a result of exceptional circumstances, and are at risk of mortgage default.” The other three expected measures are waiving internal fees for a limited period, not charging interest on interest where relief causes negative amortization, and extending amortization for the shortest feasible period.
The companion FCAC page adds that banks are expected to monitor for early signs of mortgage default and to “proactively contact you if you’re at risk of mortgage default.” Do not wait to be contacted. FSRA’s own consumer guidance is blunter: “If you foresee difficulties in making your monthly mortgage payment, contact your mortgage lender immediately, as there may be options to help.”
Why refinancing your way out is usually not available
People assume there is a refinance that fixes this. Usually there is not, and the reason is a statute rather than a lender’s preference.
Section 418(1) of the Bank Act prohibits a bank from making or refinancing a residential mortgage loan where the loan plus prior charges “would exceed 80 per cent of the value of the property at the time of the loan.” That is law, not policy.
Nor can insurance rescue it. Section 5(1)(b) of the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations confines high-ratio insurance to loans whose purpose includes a purchase, or the discharge of a prior uninsured low-ratio loan. And section 6(1)(e) to (g) prevents an insured low-ratio loan from having its balance increased above the original amortization schedule or its amortization extended.
The Bank of Canada states the same rule in one sentence: borrowers above 80 per cent loan-to-value “must obtain insurance on their mortgage and are not eligible for mortgage refinancing.”
At or above 100 per cent loan-to-value there is no lawful refinance route at a federally regulated lender and no insured route. OSFI additionally expects a maximum loan-to-value of 65 per cent for non-conforming residential mortgages. What is left is private and mortgage-investment-entity lending, which is a different and more expensive problem, not a solution. FSRA’s suitability guidance requires a brokerage arranging one to document “a feasible and realistic plan to get back to more traditional financing, or otherwise out of private lending.” If nobody has shown you that plan in writing, ask for it before you sign.
The one thing that did get easier
Since 21 November 2024, OSFI does not expect lenders to apply the minimum qualifying rate to an uninsured straight switch at renewal — moving your existing mortgage to a different federally regulated lender with no increase to the amortization period and no increase to the loan amount. OSFI’s page confirming this was last modified 29 January 2026.
Read the limits carefully before you get your hopes up. The mortgage must be stand-alone, amortizing and not readvanceable — so a HELOC-linked collateral charge is out. The balance may rise by only $3,000 to cover transaction costs such as penalties or fees, and OSFI states plainly that “equity take out is not permitted.” And the exemption is from the prescribed rate only: OSFI still expects the lender to “assess the loan like any other new origination.”
The Department of Finance made the parallel change for low-ratio insured mortgages effective 16 December 2024, and on that side the switch may be to any new lender, not only a federally regulated one.
If the mortgage is insured, the insurance is not yours
This is the most commonly held wrong belief on the subject. CMHC puts it in one line: mortgage loan insurance “is an insurance policy that protects the lender — not the buyer — if the borrower stops paying the mortgage.” You paid the premium. The lender is the beneficiary.
On the shortfall itself, CMHC’s consumer FAQ says: “In the event of a default on that loan, the liability may not be fully satisfied by the sale of the property and the borrower may therefore be responsible for the payment of the shortfall.”
What I will not tell you. I could not find any CMHC or OSFI publication that says CMHC pursues borrowers for a deficiency after paying a lender’s claim, or that uses the word subrogation in this context. CMHC’s insurance policies are not published. The furthest any primary source goes is CMHC’s own word: may. Articles that state flatly that CMHC will chase you are going beyond what CMHC has published. So am I not going to tell you the opposite. Ask your lawyer.
What CMHC does publish is its default-management guidance for approved lenders, and it is worth knowing that CMHC’s own Stage 3 default description expressly contemplates your situation: “The borrower may have minimum equity or no equity in the property.” You are not an edge case. There is a documented workflow for you.
What a shortfall closing actually costs to execute
| Cost | Amount and source |
|---|---|
| Registering the discharge | $85.00 total in electronic format — $71.55 statutory fee, $11.90 ELRSA fee and $1.55 HST. ServiceOntario Bulletin 2025-07, effective 3 November 2025 |
| Lender’s discharge fee | FCAC: where unregulated, “the lender can set its own fee. This typically ranges from no charge, up to $400.” Federally regulated lenders must disclose it in your mortgage contract |
| Professional fees for the discharge | FCAC: “typically between $400 and $2,500” |
| Prepayment penalty | Set by your contract. Mandatory disclosure in the information box under the Financial Consumer Protection Framework Regulations. Ask for it to be waived under the FCAC guideline above |
| Real estate commission | Contractual. Negotiable, and worth negotiating openly when the file is a shortfall |
I could find no Ontario statutory or regulatory cap on a lender’s discharge fee. FCAC’s wording implies some provinces regulate it; I found no Ontario provision.
The numbers, so you know where you sit
Two things are true at once and both matter.
| Measure | Latest published figure |
|---|---|
| Ontario mortgages three or more months in arrears | 7,010 of 2,150,129, a rate of 0.33% — month ended 30 June 2026, Canadian Bankers Association (nine reporting banks) |
| The same figure four years earlier | 1,282, a rate of 0.06% — June 2022. The number has risen more than fivefold |
| Canada, same measure | 14,021, a rate of 0.28% — Ontario is now above the national rate, having been well below it in 2022 |
| National 90-plus-day delinquency | 0.24% in Q4 2025 against 0.21% a year earlier. Ontario 0.27%, Toronto 0.29% — CMHC Residential Mortgage Industry Report, Spring 2026 |
| GTA benchmark price | MLS Home Price Index composite down 4.6% year over year in July 2026; apartments down 7.35%. Average selling price $1,003,956, down 4.5% — TRREB Market Watch, July 2026 |
Arrears have risen more than fivefold in Ontario in four years, and CMHC states that delinquencies are rising, led by Ontario. And yet 0.33 per cent is still a small number by any historical standard. Both of those are true. You are in a growing group, not a doomed one.
A number nobody publishes. I looked for a Canadian negative-equity rate — the share of mortgages where the balance exceeds the value — in CMHC’s Residential Mortgage Industry Report, in CMHC’s quarterly reporting, in the Bank of Canada’s financial stability indicators, in OSFI’s material and in Statistics Canada. It does not exist. The Bank of Canada defines negative equity but publishes no share of it. There is no Canadian equivalent of the American figure. If you see one quoted, ask where it came from.
What I would actually do, in order
- Get the payout figure in writing before anything else. If you are already in default, section 22(2) of the Mortgages Act lets you require a written statement of the amount you are in default and the expenses incurred, and section 22(3) requires the mortgagee to answer within fifteen days. If it fails without reasonable excuse, or answers incompletely or incorrectly, its enforcement rights are suspended until it complies. That is a real lever and almost nobody uses it.
- Call the lender before you list. Ask for the default management or special loans department, not the branch. Use the phrase “sale by borrower plan” and ask whether the prepayment penalty can be waived under the FCAC guideline on exceptional circumstances.
- Get your lawyer to pull the standard charge terms. The covenant that binds you is in there, not in the statute, and section 7(3) of the Land Registration Reform Act means it may have been varied.
- Price the sale against the payout, not against what you paid. What you paid is not a number the market has any interest in.
- Do not stop paying to force a conversation. Section 22(1) of the Mortgages Act preserves your right to cure right up until the sale, but a default starts a clock: fifteen days’ default before a notice of sale can be given under a contractual power of sale, then thirty-five days after the notice.
- Get tax advice before accepting any forgiveness. See the warning below.
On forgiven debt and tax, I am going to stop short. The Income Tax Act debt-forgiveness rules in section 80 turn on whether the debt is a “commercial debt obligation”, which depends on whether interest was or would have been deductible. I have the statutory test. I could not find a CRA folio, bulletin or guide applying it to a forgiven shortfall on a principal residence. The comfortable answer everyone repeats is not one I can source, so I am not repeating it. Ask an accountant before you sign anything that forgives debt.
What is not on this page
No case law. Ontario courts have said things about a mortgagee’s duty on a power of sale, and I have not read those decisions, so they are not here. If that point matters to your file it needs a lawyer and a case someone has actually read, not a paraphrase from an article.
Selling a house in Etobicoke or the GTA that will not cover the mortgage?
Send me the address and the payout figure. I will pull the sold comparables, tell you what the property realistically clears against that payout, and tell you plainly whether a sale closes or leaves a shortfall — before you list, not after. If the answer is that you should be talking to your lender or a lawyer first, I will say so. No cost and no obligation, and it stays between us.
connect@jatindua.com · 437-987-1925 · Book a free consultation
Confidential. Read personally and answered within 24 hours. I never share, sell or distribute your information.
Free tool — AI home value estimator
Instant Home Valuation
What’s your home
worth today?
Answer six quick questions and get an instant value range built from current Toronto & GTA sale data — property type, size, condition, lot and location all weighted the way a real pricing conversation weighs them. Takes about ninety seconds.
Reading recent GTA sale data…
Building your estimate
Estimated market value
—
$0–$0
Most likely value $0 · roughly $0 per square foot
What moved the number
Starting from the area baseline for your property type, here’s what each answer added or subtracted.
Market context
Recent local averages for comparison.
—
A range is a starting point.
A strategy is what sells.
This model doesn’t know that your neighbour’s identical semi went $80,000 over asking last month, or which two upgrades actually pay back in your area. That conversation is free and takes twenty minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell my house in Ontario if I owe more than it is worth?
You can list it, but you cannot complete the sale without your lender agreeing to discharge its charge. Section 102(1) of the Land Titles Act has the land registrar note the cessation of a charge on due proof of the satisfaction of that charge, so the buyer cannot get clear title until the lender certifies it has been satisfied. On a shortfall that means the lender must agree to certify satisfaction while being paid less than it is owed, which is a negotiation, not a right.
Does the debt go away when the house is sold?
No. Section 7(1) of the Land Registration Reform Act deems every registered charge to include your personal covenant to pay the money it secures. Selling the property realises the security; it does not release the covenant. Whatever the sale does not cover remains an ordinary contract debt you still owe.
How long can a lender come after me for a mortgage shortfall in Ontario?
Ten years. Section 43(1) of the Real Property Limitations Act bars an action on a covenant to repay money secured by a mortgage after the later of ten years from when the cause of action arose and ten years from the day the liable person’s interest in the land was conveyed or transferred. This is not the general two-year limitation period that applies to most Ontario claims.
My spouse and I are both on the mortgage. Do we each owe half the shortfall?
No. Section 7(2)(a) of the Land Registration Reform Act makes the deemed covenants of multiple chargors joint and several unless the charge specifies otherwise, so each of you is liable for the entire shortfall and the lender may pursue whichever of you it prefers. Section 7(3) allows this to be varied in the filed standard charge terms, so have a lawyer read your lender’s registered terms rather than assuming.
Is there such a thing as a short sale in Ontario?
No. Short sale is a United States term. It does not appear in the Mortgages Act, the Land Titles Act or the Land Registration Reform Act, and I could not find it used in that sense on any page published by FSRA, RECO, CMHC, OSFI or the Government of Ontario. The Canadian equivalents are the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s sale by borrower plan, and a negotiated discharge for less than the balance owing.
What is a sale by borrower plan?
It is FCAC’s published term for an arrangement where, in its words, “your financial institution allows you to sell your home for a fair market value. You continue to live in your home while it’s for sale. This is typically for a period of 90 days or less.” It is permission to run a proper sale rather than have the lender run a power of sale. It is not a promise that any shortfall will be forgiven.
Will my lender waive the prepayment penalty if I am selling because I cannot afford the house?
It may, and there is a published expectation you can point to. FCAC’s Guideline on Existing Consumer Mortgage Loans in Exceptional Circumstances, issued 5 July 2023 and last modified 25 September 2025, sets out four measures expected of federally regulated financial institutions for consumers at risk of mortgage default. The first is waiving prepayment penalties when the consumer makes a lump-sum payment or sells their residence. It is an expectation rather than a right, but it is published and it is specific.
Can I refinance my way out of negative equity?
Almost certainly not at a bank. Section 418(1) of the Bank Act prohibits a bank from making or refinancing a residential mortgage loan where the loan plus prior charges would exceed 80 per cent of the value of the property. Mortgage insurance cannot bridge the gap either: section 5(1)(b) of the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations confines high-ratio insurance to purchases and to discharging a prior uninsured low-ratio loan. The Bank of Canada states the position plainly, that borrowers above 80 per cent loan-to-value are not eligible for mortgage refinancing.
Does my CMHC insurance protect me if there is a shortfall?
No. CMHC states that mortgage loan insurance “is an insurance policy that protects the lender — not the buyer — if the borrower stops paying the mortgage.” You pay the premium; the lender is the beneficiary. CMHC’s consumer FAQ adds that on a default the liability may not be fully satisfied by the sale and the borrower may therefore be responsible for payment of the shortfall. I could find no CMHC or OSFI publication stating whether CMHC pursues borrowers for a deficiency after paying a lender’s claim, so I am not going to tell you either way.
How many people in Ontario are actually behind on their mortgage?
As at the month ended 30 June 2026 the Canadian Bankers Association reported 7,010 Ontario mortgages three or more months in arrears out of 2,150,129, a rate of 0.33 per cent. Four years earlier, in June 2022, the figures were 1,282 and 0.06 per cent. The number has risen more than fivefold and Ontario is now above the national rate of 0.28 per cent, having been well below it in 2022. The CBA series covers nine reporting banks only.
Is there a published figure for how many Canadian homeowners are in negative equity?
No. I looked in CMHC’s Residential Mortgage Industry Report, CMHC’s quarterly reporting, the Bank of Canada’s financial stability indicators and its March 2026 staff paper on the macro drivers of mortgage arrears, OSFI’s published material and Statistics Canada. None of them publishes a negative equity share. The Bank of Canada defines the term but does not measure it. There is no Canadian equivalent of the American figure that gets quoted, so treat any specific percentage you are shown with suspicion until you see its source.
Related reading
- Your agent will not cancel the agreement: what Ontario law actually lets you do
- Power of sale in Ontario: the fifteen-day clock and the Mortgages Act
- Toronto West market report, July 2026
- Title insurance in Ontario: what it covers, what it does not
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these, and each was read on 1 September 2026. Primary sources only — statute, regulation, and the government or agency that administers the rule. Where I could not verify something from a primary source, the page says so instead of guessing.
- Land Registration Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.4. Government of Ontario e-Laws, consolidated text read 1 September 2026. Section 7(1) deems every registered charge to include a personal covenant to pay. Section 7(2)(a) makes co-chargors jointly and severally liable unless the charge says otherwise. Section 7(3) allows the implied covenant to be varied by the filed standard charge terms. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Mortgages Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.40. Government of Ontario e-Laws, consolidated text read 1 September 2026. Section 27 sets the order in which sale proceeds are applied and directs the residue to the mortgagor; it contains no provision creating, capping or extinguishing a deficiency. Section 20 governs the mortgagee’s election between an original mortgagor and a grantee of the equity of redemption. Section 22 preserves the right to cure at any time before sale and requires the mortgagee to answer a written arrears request within fifteen days. Sections 24, 26 and 32 set the two power-of-sale timetables. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5. Government of Ontario e-Laws, consolidated text read 1 September 2026. Section 102(1) provides that the land registrar notes the cessation of a charge on due proof of the satisfaction of that charge, which is the mechanism behind a lender’s practical veto over a closing that does not pay it out in full. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Real Property Limitations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.15. Government of Ontario e-Laws, consolidated text read 1 September 2026. Section 43(1), as amended by 2002, c. 24, Sched. B, s. 26(1), sets a ten-year limitation period for an action on a covenant to repay money secured by a mortgage. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Mortgage relief options — Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Government of Canada, page modified 15 October 2025. Publishes the full menu of relief measures including payment deferral, extended deferral, amortization extension, capitalization, interest-only payments and the sale by borrower plan. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Guideline on Existing Consumer Mortgage Loans in Exceptional Circumstances — FCAC. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, issued 5 July 2023, page modified 25 September 2025. Sets out four measures expected of federally regulated financial institutions for consumers at risk of mortgage default, the first of which is waiving prepayment penalties where the consumer makes a lump-sum payment or sells the residence. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Paying your mortgage when experiencing financial difficulties — FCAC. Government of Canada, page modified 15 October 2025. States that banks are expected to monitor for early signs of mortgage default, to contact borrowers at risk proactively, and to provide access to relief measures. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Discharging a mortgage — Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Government of Canada, page modified 25 September 2025. States that federally regulated lenders must disclose the discharge fee in the mortgage contract, that where the fee is unregulated it ranges from no charge up to $400, and that professional fees for the discharge are typically between $400 and $2,500. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Bank Act, S.C. 1991, c. 46, section 418. Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, read 1 September 2026. Prohibits a bank from making or refinancing a residential mortgage loan where the loan plus prior charges would exceed 80 per cent of the value of the property, subject to the insurance exception in subsection (2). Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Insurable Housing Loan Regulations, SOR/2012-282. Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada, read 1 September 2026. Section 5(1)(b) confines high-ratio insurance to purchases and to discharging a prior uninsured low-ratio loan. Section 6(1)(e) to (g) prevents an insured low-ratio loan from having its balance increased or its amortization extended. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Financial stability indicators — Bank of Canada. Bank of Canada, read 1 September 2026. Defines negative equity as owing more than the house is worth, and states that borrowers with a loan-to-value ratio greater than 80 per cent must obtain mortgage insurance and are not eligible for mortgage refinancing. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages — OSFI. Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, page modified 29 January 2026. States the minimum qualifying rate as the greater of the contract rate plus two per cent or 5.25 per cent, and states that OSFI does not expect lenders to apply it to uninsured straight switches at renewal. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- OSFI exempts uninsured mortgage straight switches from the prescribed MQR. Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, letter dated 21 November 2024. Defines a straight switch as a transfer of a stand-alone uninsured mortgage between federally regulated institutions with no increase in amortization or loan amount, permits the balance to rise by $3,000 for transaction costs, and prohibits equity take-out. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- FAQs on mortgage loan insurance — CMHC. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, published 31 March 2018. States that on a default the liability may not be fully satisfied by the sale of the property and the borrower may therefore be responsible for payment of the shortfall. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- CMHC mortgage loan insurance explained — CMHC Housing Observer. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, published 30 June 2025. States that mortgage loan insurance protects the lender and not the buyer, and gives a premium range of 0.6 to 4.5 per cent of the mortgage amount. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- CMHC Default Management Tool Selector — borrower able and willing to repay. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, published 31 March 2018. Sets out the three-stage default taxonomy, expressly contemplates a borrower with minimum equity or no equity at Stage 3, and caps the interest-only tool at $10,000 cumulative repayable within two years. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Residential Mortgage Industry Report, Spring 2026 Edition — CMHC. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, published 12 May 2026. Reports the national 90-plus-day mortgage delinquency rate at 0.24 per cent in Q4 2025 against 0.21 per cent a year earlier, Ontario at 0.27 per cent and Toronto at 0.29 per cent, and states that delinquencies are rising, led by Ontario. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Number of Residential Mortgages in Arrears, month ended 30 June 2026 (PDF). Canadian Bankers Association. Reports 7,010 Ontario mortgages three or more months in arrears out of 2,150,129, a rate of 0.33 per cent, against 1,282 and 0.06 per cent in June 2022. Covers nine reporting banks only. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Market Watch, July 2026 (PDF) — Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, released 6 August 2026. Reports the MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark down 4.6 per cent year over year, the average selling price at $1,003,956 down 4.5 per cent, and the apartment benchmark down 7.35 per cent across all TRREB areas. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Land Services Fee Changes effective November 3, 2025, Bulletin 2025-07 (PDF). ServiceOntario, Land Registry Services Branch, dated 15 September 2025. Schedule I sets the fee for registration of an instrument in electronic format at $85.00 in total, being a $71.55 statutory fee, an $11.90 ELRSA fee and $1.55 HST. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Shopping for a mortgage — FSRA. Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, read 1 September 2026. Consumer guidance stating that a borrower who foresees difficulty making a monthly mortgage payment should contact the lender immediately because there may be options to help. The page displays no date. Accessed 1 September 2026.
- Mortgage Product Suitability Assessment, Guidance MB0054INT — FSRA. Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, effective 19 June 2024. Requires a mortgage brokerage to discuss affordability and the consequences of not meeting payment obligations, and to document a feasible and realistic plan to return the client to traditional financing. Accessed 1 September 2026.
About the author — Jatin Dua, Etobicoke real estate agent
I’m the Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty, 799 The Queensway in Etobicoke. I write these pages the same way I work a file: read the primary source, quote it, date it, and say plainly where the source is silent or where two sources disagree. If a figure on this page has no citation beside it, that is a mistake and I want to hear about it.
I work with buyers, sellers, renters and investors across Etobicoke, Mimico, Humber Bay Shores, New Toronto, Long Branch, Alderwood and Stonegate–Queensway. connect@jatindua.com or 437-987-1925.