These are interesting listings. I have only seen this kind of thing a few times. I come at this from a litigation perspective.
This suggests there is a very motivated judgment creditor. The situation is more complex than I could do justice to in a forum post.
Before placing an offer, you will want to check whether the other co-owner is the spouse of the judgment debtor and lives there. You will want to find out if that spouse claims dower rights in the other 1/2 interest in addition to co-tenant rights.
This is probably what split the "joint tenancy", which is statutory instead of intentional: (from the Civil Enforcement Act)
Severance of joint tenancy, etc.
76(1) Writ proceedings against an enforcement debtor’s interest as a joint tenant of land sever the joint tenancy when an agency has entered into an agreement to sell the debtor’s interest.
(2) If a writ is registered against land in which an enforcement debtor holds an interest in joint tenancy and the enforcement debtor dies, the writ shall continue to bind the land in an amount equal to the lesser of
(a) the amount owing on the writ, and
(b) the value that the debtor’s interest in the land would have been if the joint tenancy had been severed immediately before the debtor’s death.
There is a high probability that the co-owners are spouses, and their ownership from joint-tenancy was severed to tenants in common as a result of a judgment.
See:
http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/...nual/TEN-2.pdf for how land titles will treat this.
There are lots of potential problems here, which will dissuade many potential purchasers. There is also the potential to make a profit with a low offer provided you can accept the legal problems.
The property being "unviewable" is common in an enforcement type procedure. Even if a spouse is not the co-owner, you will want to find out if other interests in the land have been granted (ie. leasehold interest- which does not have to registered if it is only (I think) 2 years.