A Nova Scotia senior lost his cottage in a tax sale — but had never missed a payment

It started with an unusual light bill.

Last February, Nelson Miller was confused when he got an electricity bill for his cottage. The 83-year-old rarely used his rural Nova Scotia cottage in winter. 

"So I called [the utility]. And they said, 'The people that bought your property want you to pay the light bill,'" Miller recalled.

"Pardon? What's going on? My property is not for sale."

In an unfortunate series of events involving taxes and a decades-old unregistered deed, the Municipality of the District of St. Mary's had sold the land without his knowledge.

In 1979, Miller bought two parcels of land on East Loon Lake, about 55 kilometres north of Sheet Harbour, N.S. He built a small cottage on the roughly 35,500 square-foot property.

But Miller never registered his deed — something he realizes now he should have done at the time. However, Miller said it just wasn't a priority because it was a busy time as he and his late wife, Karen, both worked while raising their young children.

"This wouldn't have happened if I'd have registered it," Miller said.

Although Miller said he always knew there were two parcels on the property — a larger one beside the road where he built the family cottage and a smaller lakeside one — he paid taxes to St. Mary's municipality for both parcels under one account.

Over the coming decades the Millers enjoyed their land and cottage, spending most weekends swimming, boating, being in the woods and eating home-cooked meals.

"It was like part of heaven almost," Miller said with a quiet laugh.

Because Miller hadn't registered the deed, the municipality did not know he had purchased the land from the previous owner. In 2015, for the first time, the municipality started trying to collect taxes on the larger roadside parcel of land in a new account. But the tax bills went to a long-defunct post office box used by the previous owner. 

Eventually the property was put up for a tax sale and bought by Luke and Christina Collings in June 2021.

When the Collings drove out to get a look at the property before buying it, they were surprised to find a cottage on it — because the tax sale advertised the property as "vacant land."