This comes up after separations, after a move for work, and after someone simply walked away from a property they could not carry. The common thread is a belief that leaving ended the obligation.
It did not.
Where you actually stand
If you signed the mortgage, you are generally responsible for it regardless of who lives there. If you are on the title, you are an owner regardless of your address. An agreement with an ex-partner that they would take it on does not bind the lender unless the lender formally released you — and they rarely do.
So the process continues, and it continues with your name on it.
Why this gets expensive
People who have left often stop opening the mail, which means documents go unread and deadlines pass unnoticed. Then a decision gets made that they had a right to influence, and any surplus that might have come back to them goes unclaimed because nobody can find them.
Absence does not protect you. It removes your say while leaving your exposure.
What to do
Make sure you receive the mail. Update your address with the lender, and redirect post from the property. This alone prevents most of the damage.
Find out where things actually stand. As a borrower you are entitled to information about your own mortgage — the balance, the arrears, whether a court action has started.
Get advice about the shortfall question, because if a sale does not clear the debt, whether it can follow you depends on your documents. That matters most to the person who has already left, since it is the part that arrives later.
If someone else is living there, whether an ex-partner or a tenant, understand what they are doing and what your position is. You are still an owner.
If you are still on the title but out of the picture
Get legal advice, particularly where a separation is involved. There are routes for dealing with co-owned property where owners cannot agree — and they take time, which is the argument for starting now rather than when it becomes urgent.
Questions people ask
General information about the Alberta foreclosure process — not legal or financial advice, and nothing here guarantees an outcome. Every file is different.