Who pays the sheriff's fees when enforcing a writ of seizure and sale in Ontario?

When a creditor uses the sheriff's office to enforce a writ of seizure and sale, the fees and costs the sheriff charges for that work are generally recoverable from the debtor as part of the overall enforcement process, rather than being a cost the creditor simply has to absorb permanently. In practice, the creditor typically has to pay the sheriff's fees upfront to get the enforcement process moving, since the sheriff generally doesn't act without payment for its services, but those amounts are generally added to what the debtor owes and can be recovered out of any proceeds the sheriff collects, such as money from a sale of seized property.

This means a creditor pursuing enforcement needs to be prepared to front some costs before recovering anything, which is a practical consideration when a debtor's assets are uncertain or hard to locate. If the enforcement effort doesn't turn up enough to cover both the sheriff's fees and the underlying debt, the creditor may not fully recover the fees they advanced. Court, filing, and enforcement fees generally change periodically, so it's worth confirming the currently applicable sheriff and filing fees before starting this process rather than relying on outdated figures.