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The redemption period in Alberta: how much time the court gives you
This is the number everyone wants and almost every website gets slightly wrong. The statute sets a default. The court can move it in either direction. Understanding what moves it is the difference between six months and six weeks.
The short answer
Under s. 41(1) of Alberta's Law of Property Act, the redemption period is six months from the granting of the order for a home, and one year for farm land. Section 41(2) lets the court decrease or extend it. In practice, periods from one day to six months are granted.
The clock starts at the granting of the order, not at your first missed payment. The court weighs six factors: your ability to pay, the value of the land, whether it has been abandoned, the lender's security, your earning capacity, and whether the default was caused by unemployment or something else beyond your control.
What the statute says
41(1) The time to be fixed for redemption by the order nisi in an action for foreclosure of a mortgage … shall,
(a) in the case of farm land, be one year from the date of the granting of the order, and
(b) in the case of land other than farm land, be 6 months from the date of the granting of the order.
Law of Property Act, RSA 2000, c L-7, s. 41(1)Two things about that provision are routinely misread. First, the clock starts at the granting of the order, not at your first missed payment — so the months you have already spent in arrears do not count against it. Second, it is a default, not a guarantee. Subsection (2) lets the court "decrease or extend" it.
The six factors that move it
For a home — "land other than farm land" — the statute directs the court to have regard to the following, and only the following:
(i) the ability of the debtor to pay,
(ii) the value of the land including the improvements made on it,
(iii) whether the land has been abandoned,
(iv) the nature, extent and value of the security held by the creditor,
(v) the earning capacity of the debtor, and
(vi) whether the debtor's failure to pay was due to temporary or permanent unemployment or other conditions beyond the control of the debtor.
Law of Property Act, s. 41(2)(b)Read that list as a brief. If you intend to ask for more time, the material you put in front of the court should speak to those six items and nothing else — a job offer with a start date, evidence of the layoff or illness that caused the default, evidence of equity, evidence that the home is occupied and maintained.
Equity is the quiet driver.
Practitioners describe the Redemption Order with a listing as the route taken "where there is significant equity in the property," with periods granted in practice ranging from a single day to six months. Where there is little or no equity, the lender may seek an immediate order for sale or an immediate foreclosure order instead — and the fee guideline expressly contemplates that as a possible first substantive application. In short: equity buys time, because time is what protects the equity.
What you can still do during the redemption period
- Redeem. If the mortgage has not matured, the proceedings can be redeemed by paying all arrears and costs to date. If it has matured or been accelerated, redemption means paying the full amount declared in the order.
- Sell. You are still the owner. A sale that pays out the declared amount plus accrued costs ends the action.
- Refinance. An alternative or private lender pays out the declared amount. Expensive money, but it stops the meter.
- Apply to extend. Under s. 41(2), on the factors above.
- Do nothing. At expiry, the Judicial Sale Listing begins under the terms already contained in the order.
Six months of "time" is not six months of standing still.
While the file sits in abeyance the debt does not. Interest accrues daily. Property taxes keep coming due. If the property is vacant, the fee guideline contemplates weekly winter inspections, snow removal, lock changes and clean-up — all recoverable against your equity. Every additional court step adds its own fee. Time in the redemption period is only valuable if you use it to do something.
This is information, not legal advice.
Ryan McCann is a licensed REALTOR® with MaxWell Polaris, not a lawyer. Everything on this page is a plain-language summary of publicly available Alberta law and court practice, with the sources listed so you can check them. Your mortgage, your order and your circumstances are specific to you. Before you make a decision with legal consequences, speak to an Alberta real estate lawyer. If cost is the barrier, Legal Aid Alberta and the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta are free starting points.
Sources for this page
- Law of Property Act, RSA 2000, c L-7, ss. 39–45 (Alberta King's Printer) — https://kings-printer.alberta.ca/documents/Acts/l07.pdf
- J.F. Reich & D.M. Hendrix, “The Foreclosure Sale Process”, Legal Education Society of Alberta — https://www.lesaonline.org/samples/61836_07_p1.pdf
- Foreclosure Fee and Disbursement Guideline – Alberta, Court of King's Bench — https://albertacourts.ca/docs/default-source/qb/foreclosure_fee_and_disbursement_guidline_alberta_21082018.pdf
Reviewed and updated September 2026. Alberta legislation and court fee guidelines change — the sources above are the authoritative text.
Six months sounds like a lot until you price a house wrong once.
A typical Edmonton sale needs time to expose the property to the market properly. If your redemption period is the runway, the worst thing you can do with it is guess at a price. Start with a written value range and work backwards from your deadline.
- Written value range backed by comparable Edmonton sales
- An estimate of the payout on your mortgage, arrears and legal costs
- A plain-language read of which stage you are in and what happens next
- No cost, no obligation, and nothing reported to your lender