Cleared early property tax arrears with an alt-A refinance — before a certificate

The arrears were compounding at municipal penalty rates, and the clients knew a tax-arrears certificate would eventually follow — which would close off the cheaper lender options.

Their bank wouldn't refinance while the taxes were behind, even though the rest of their file was strong.

Because no certificate was registered and the clients had provable income and reasonable credit, we moved quickly for an alt-A refinance rather than waiting until a private deal would be the only option.

The refinance was sized to pay the full arrears (plus penalty and interest) and consolidate a small credit-card balance; the lawyer paid the municipality at closing and confirmed the account read zero.

By acting before a certificate was registered, the clients kept the cheaper alt-A path that a certificate would have closed off, cleared the arrears, and consolidated other debt — all at a lower cost than a later private redemption would have required.