Mandatory Electronic Filing at Victoria Land Title Office to Commence in 2012
Earlier in 2011 the Director of Land Titles for British Columbia (the “Director”) announced a significant change to the way that the BC Land Title Offices work.
Beginning January 16, 2012 (the “First Implementation Date”), most Land Title Office forms will have to be filed electronically, meaning that the Victoria (and all other provincial) Land Title Offices will not accept paper copies of these forms.
Beginning January 16, 2012, all Land Title Form A (for title transfer), Form B (for mortgages), and Form C (for rights of way, easements, statutory building schemes, etc.) must be filed electronically.
In addition, the Director has announced his intention to implement mandatory electronic filing requirements for all subdivision plans, strata plans, claims of builder’s lien, and various other matters at some future date.
Why should you be concerned with this? While this is mainly of concern for the lawyers and notaries public practicing real estate conveyancing, this may impact our practice and you, as our clients in a few ways.
- First, clients who would like to file their own private
mortgage, or register a transfer in the title themselves, they will no longer be able to do so by filling out the necessary forms in person at the Victoria Land Title Office. They would be well advised to contact a lawyer or notary public to assist them with this. - Second, the requirement for electronic filing of Land Title documents will mean that going forward, virtually all plans, strata plans, charges on title, etc. will be easily retrievable through the B.C. Online program when conducting your due diligence on a given property.
The Law Firm of Mullin DeMeo was at the forefront of the development and implementation of the Land Title Office electronically filing program in 2004. As a result there will be no transition for their lawyers; they will use the knowledge we’ve developed over the last seven years to continue providing us and our clients with excellent real estate related legal services.
This discussion of the implementation of mandatory electronic Land Title Office filing is intended only as a brief introduction to the subject. Should you have any questions or concerns with respect to this or any other aspect of real estate law, please contact Brian Piovesan at Mullin DeMeo, at Brendan@mdlawcorp.com, or (250) 477-3327. (information kindly provided by the lawfirm of Mullin Demeo and edited with permission)
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