Homeowners can have a lien placed on their property and not even know it, but that’s a situation the government of Ontario is considering changing.
Notices of Security Interest or NOSIs (pronounced No Sees), are registered obligations recorded on the land registry system against pieces of property. They act as a guarantee that a salesperson or a contractor who sells a fixture (such as an HVAC system or new windows) on instalments or as part of a lease-to-own plan will be paid out in full. At least that’s how they’re supposed to work in theory. In practice, however, NOSIs have come to be seen by many as predatory.
In fact, Lorne S. Shuman, a barrister and solicitor with the law firm Isenberg & Shuman Professional Corporation uses words like “scam” and “unscrupulous companies” when talking about NOSIs. A real estate lawyer, Shuman once served as director of legal services for First Canadian Title, a title insurance company, and he is very familiar with NOSIs. He explained that the authorization permitting a NOSI to be registered is typically buried in tiny, hard-to-see fine print of a sales contract, and is written in hard-to-understand language. Once the contract is signed, then the vendor would assign the contract to a third party.