The matter file
Every enforcement matter in Edicta is one record: the mortgage and its terms, the parties (mortgagor, guarantors, subsequent encumbrancers, tenants or other occupants), the property and its parcel register, the lender's authorization to proceed, the amount owing as at a given date, and the documents that support each of those facts. Because every action is logged, a deadline can be traced back to the facts it rests on and to who recorded them.
The matter number and the books stay in your practice management software. The documents stay in your SharePoint. Edicta holds the state of the file: where it is, what is due, what is blocked, and why.
The stages
Edicta models the enforcement lifecycle under the Ontario Mortgages Act as a sequence of stages. A stage closes when its conditions are met, and the next stage opens with its tasks, deadlines and warnings already in place.
| Stage | What happens | What Edicta records |
|---|---|---|
| Default confirmed | The lender's instructions arrive. The default and its date are confirmed against the mortgage terms and the payment history. | Default date, arrears, the lender's authorization to proceed, the parcel register and the parties. |
| Demand | A demand goes to the mortgagor and any guarantor. | Date sent, method of delivery and the response window. |
| Notice of sale | Where the mortgage contains a power of sale, a notice of sale under Part III of the Mortgages Act may be given once the default has continued for at least 15 days (section 32), or any longer period the mortgage requires (section 37). It is given to everyone who appears on the parcel register or the index of executions to have an interest in the property after the mortgage, such as the owner, later chargees and execution creditors, and to anyone else the Act names, such as a public authority with a statutory lien or a person whose interest the mortgagee has written notice of (section 31). The mortgagee may not sell until at least 35 days after the notice is given (section 32). | Notice date, service dates, and the redemption date stated in the notice: the last day on which payment under the notice may be made, after which the mortgagee may proceed to sell, and in any event not before 35 days after the notice is given. |
| Redemption period | The mortgagor may bring the mortgage into good standing by paying the arrears and costs, or redeem in full. A mortgagor's written request for a statement of the arrears and the mortgagee's expenses must be answered within 15 days (section 22); until it is answered completely and correctly, the mortgagee's right to enforce is suspended. | Amount owing as at a date and payments received. |
| Expiry | The redemption date in the notice passes without payment. The file may proceed to sale, subject to the firm's own checks. The mortgagor can still redeem until the mortgagee enters into a binding agreement of purchase and sale, and can still reinstate under section 22 until that agreement is made or an action is started, whichever comes first. | Gates: redemption date passed, service recorded, a current title search, and the lender's authorization to proceed. |
| Court steps | Where the mortgagor contests the enforcement, possession is required, or the firm brings an action for judicial sale or foreclosure under Rule 64, the court steps run on the same file: statement of claim, the defence or request-to-redeem deadline that runs from service, judgment or final order, and the writ of possession, which is issued with leave and is valid for one year unless renewed. | Filing and service dates, defence deadlines, judgment and writ dates, and the Sheriff's enforcement date. |
| Sale | Appraisal and listing, agreement of purchase and sale, vacant possession where required, and closing. | Listing and offer dates, conditions, the closing date and the amount required to close. |
| Closing and discharge | Sale proceeds are applied, any surplus is accounted for, the lender is reported to, and the file closes with the registered transfer under power of sale or, on a payout, the discharge or transfer of the charge. | Statement of account, distribution, reporting letter and the closed-file record. |
Files that never go to court skip the court steps. A file that is paid out, settled or stayed can be closed with the reason and the date recorded, rather than left open with a stale deadline.
Deadlines and gates
Deadlines are calculated from recorded facts and shown with the inputs they rest on. Edicta distinguishes a task someone intends to do from a step whose conditions are actually satisfied.
- Statutory periods, such as the 15-day default period and the 35-day notice period in section 32 of the Mortgages Act (the notice period is counted from the day a mailed notice is posted, section 34), and defence deadlines that run from the date of service.
- Firm rules that you set: warning thresholds before a deadline, and hard stops such as a title sub-search that is too old to rely on before a notice is given. Your firm, your rules, applied consistently across every file.
Documents in
Edicta reads non-privileged documents (the charge, the parcel register, payment histories, mortgage statements) and proposes the figures, dates and parties they contain. Proposed values are shown for review before they are used. Counsel records on the file only the facts needed to run it, such as the authorization to proceed; the instruction letter itself stays in your firm's own systems. The manual retyping from PDF stops being part of the day; the checking does not.
Documents out
Reporting letters, notices and statements are generated from the matter file, with names, addresses, figures and dates already in place. No opening last week's letter and changing what's different. You review, you sign, you serve.
The audit trail
Every action on every matter is logged: who did what, when, on which document, with which authority. When a lender asks why a figure changed, when a partner asks who confirmed service, or when the Law Society asks for the file, the answer is a record rather than a reconstruction.
Every party, one record
Counsel, the lender, the property manager and the broker work from the same matter record, each with a permission-scoped view of what concerns them, and lender status reports are produced from that record rather than reconstructed by email.
What Edicta does not do
Edicta does not give legal advice and does not decide anything on your behalf. It records facts, calculates and explains deadlines, prepares documents for review and keeps the record. Counsel decides. It does not replace your practice management or trust accounting software, and it is not built for litigation generally, family law or commercial real estate transactions. It does only Ontario mortgage enforcement.