Policy and Procedures for Lawyers and Surveyors Issue 4, Issue 4 March 2007
Highlights of Regulations and Forms Amendments
On April 3, 2007, three sets of regulations come into effect. Amendments to the Land Registration Administration Regulations will significantly impact the way that lawyers and others conduct their business with the Land Registration Office. All forms have been amended, some to streamline processes and others to require a Certificate of Legal Effect. Many have been simplified, but others are now used for different purposes than they were in the 2005 forms. Due to the fact that the forms changes are so extensive, the normal grace period for the submission of prior forms cannot be accommodated with these amendments. New Electronic Information Regulations under the Registry Act permit electronic submission of documents under the Registry Act. New Document Submission Regulations under the Registry Act prescribe Form 44E and move Forms 44, 44A and 44B from the Land Registration Administration Regulations. The “bottom line” is that the new forms and regulations were two years in the making and are based to a great extent on suggestions made by our stakeholders over that time. The April 3 regulations represent perhaps the biggest single-day change since the introduction of the land titles system. This Communiqué highlights most of the major changes, but please
take the time to familiarize yourselves with the new and amended regulations and forms.
Highlights Regulations and Forms Amendments
Effective April 3, 2007
Section 2
The concept of “eligible lawyer” is removed from the regulations and will be removed from the LRA Agreement between SNSMR and the NSBS. Access to POL is required for all lawyers working in the land titles system.
The definition of dual purpose document has been adjusted to clearly apply to situations where certified true copies of land titles documents are required.
“Registration and recording particulars of a document” has been added as a definition to clarify the need for complete identification for documents.
“User number” has replaced “registrant user number.”
The definition of ‘mortgage” has been amended for clarity.
The definition of “non-resident” eliminates the need for a definition of “permanent resident,” for clarity/conformity with wording of LRA.
All forms have either been altered, totally re-vamped or replaced. You will need to download and save new versions of all forms. Staff will be looking for the April 3, 2007 date on submitted forms. Therefore, the usual grace period for acceptance of prior versions of the forms will not be possible.
The purpose of the forms, rather than their titles, are listed in the regulations, for clarity and convenience.
In order to facilitate electronic submission, the Inspector of Co-operative’s signature (evidencing consent to a transfer or mortgage) is no longer incorporated on Forms 24, 24E, 26, 26E, 44 & 44E. A separate (un-prescribed) consent is required to be attached to the hard copy cover form or scanned as an attachment to an electronic submission.
A number of forms now require a positive statement about whether a Power of Attorney ap plies to the document, to synchronize the paper forms with the electronic.
On all land titles forms submitted to the LRO, the term “registrant user number” has been replaced with “subscriber user number.”
“Instrument type/code” has changed to “instrument type.”
Registrar’s/Registrar General’s Forms
LRO and system-generated forms are no longer prescribed, to permit Land Registry flexibility in dealing with unique situations.
Forms that have been moved to Registry Act document submission regulations
Forms 44, 44A, 44B, & 44E are now prescribed under the Registry Act regulations.
Forms that have been eliminated
Form 4, in favour of allowing lawyers and surveyors to prepare their own forms of owner consent.
Form 8. Now incorporated in the final submission of the AFR (a new Form 8 has taken its place, see below).
Form 8 Part II , which is not needed now that servient tenement parcel abstracts are no longer submitted to the LROs.
Forms 11 and 12 have been eliminated in favour of a re-vamped Form 15 and a new Form 15A (see below).
Form 18 has been eliminated, in favour of a non-prescribed written request to the Registrar
General for a review of a registrar’s refusal to revise or rectify.
Form 23 has been eliminated, as AFR bundle submission has been eliminated.
Form 25 has been eliminated and incorporated into a significantly re-vamped Form 24.
Forms that have been significantly re-vamped
Form 9 has been streamlined and changed to require notice of all known occupation without permission (20 per cent rule is no longer an exception to serving the form on the occupier). Form 9 is also to be served after title registration when a previously-unknown occupancy without permission comes to the attention of the owner.
Form 15, to provide notice requiring the registrar to cancel the recording of a security interest in accordance with subsection 60(2) of the Act, is now used with attachments rather than prescribed Forms 11 and 12 by acting as a notice and request to cancel a security interest.
Form 15A, which was a prescribed but unused registrar’s form, is now a notice and request to cancel a recorded interest or judgment under Section 63 of the Act.
Form 17 is used only for rectification of registered interests, as per LRA Section 33. The form can only be filed by the authorized lawyer who made the error.
Form 19 has been given additional information so that a Form 26 is no longer required when recording the Certificate of Lis Pendens.
Form 21 has been simplified and no longer incorporates the affidavit of name change.
Form 24 has been extensively amended. Among other things, it now explicitly provides for removal of an interest by operation of law.
Form 26 has been altered so that judgment roll documents are no longer recorded with the form, and added revocation of a Power of Attorney that is in the Attorney Roll (which is a recording not a removal).
Form 27 can no longer be used to remove judgment roll documents or revocation of a Power of Attorney in the Attorney Roll (which is an addition not a removal).
Form 28 has changed to clarify its use for all plans. Also added termination of condominium to the uses list.
Form 45 must now be used by the subdividing party for parcel register “cleanup” after subdivision and prior to revision. It confirms, deletes and amends interests placed in parcel registers on subdivision. It also serves to add parcel access, which is blanked out on reconfiguration of parcels.
Form 48 no longer is used to remove one or more, but not all, judgment debtors from a judgment (see new Form 48B).
Form 49 now includes a Certificate of Legal Effect due to the exposure to loss (to interest holders and the land titles system) resulting from corrections to recordings.
Form 6A, to correct errors in a previously submitted certificate of legal effect. The correction must be carried out by the lawyer who made the error on the original Certificate of Legal Effect. This form replaces many of the corrections that used to appear on a Form 17 (i.e. all mistakes other than to the registered interest).
Form 8, to provide notice to a parcel owner respecting recording of an overriding interest, benefit or burden.
Form 8A, to register notice of a benefit or burden on a land titles parcel under the Registry Act.
Forms 46E and 47E, to facilitate electronic submission of Certificates of Judgment and Discharges/Satisfactions of Judgment. Form 44E has been added. under separate Registry Act electronic filing regulations.
Form 48A is used to remove a judgment from a parcel register with a document other than a discharge/satisfaction of judgment. The form is also recorded in the Judgment Roll (note that it does not remove a judgment from the roll). A Certificate of Legal Effect is included on the Form 48A.
Form 48B is used to record a judgment-related document (other than judgments and satisfactions/discharges) in the judgment roll and, if applicable, in a parcel register. Note that Orders for Judgment and statutory declarations respecting judgments are only recorded in the judgment roll (Form 48B).
Section 5
Document Submission Requirements
When submitting a plan or document attachment that is larger than 11”x17”, a duplicate original or certified true copy must be submitted. This new requirement is to facilitate daily plan and oversized document scanning.
The regulations clarify that in order for the LRO mapper to process a plan of subdivision where an exemption from approval under the MGA is being claimed, the plan must either include evidence of consent or the consent must be included in an attached affidavit.
Section 6
Electronic Document Submission
The “missing regulation” respecting retention of hard copy documents (as noted in e-submissions) has been inserted. The submitter keeps the original or true copy, as appropriate.
Section 7
Parcel Description Certification Application (PDCA) and Application to Amend Legal Description
The “building blocks” for description assembly have changed to reflect the amount of document scanning that is taking place in all LROs.
Under the amended regulations, document references can replace full text for benefits and burdens, easement usage details, and parcels excepted out of the legal description so long as the full text of the element is contained in the referenced documents.
In addition, the MGA compliance statements have been replaced by a straightforward statement.
Section 9
Amendment of Legal Description and Parcel Register on Subdivision or Condominium Unit Creation
The Form 45 has been amended to create flexibility and require confirmation, deletion or amendment of all inherited interests (or amendment/removal) on re-configuration of a parcel. The form must be submitted on behalf of the subdivider before a revision of ownership can take place.
Section 10
Application for Registration (AFR)
These amendments reflect the fact that the regulations were already changed to eliminate AFR bundle submission and the LRA has been amended to delete the requirement to submit abstracts of title. The lawyer must retain copies of all listed items (including the abstract of title) for inspection or audit.
Statements on the AFR final submission explicitly replace or satisfy the requirements contained in LRA clauses 37(4)(b), (ba), (f) & (g) [opinion, title insurance statement, MGA subdivision compliance/exemption/non-applicability and registrar-matched PID].
In ALL cases of known occupation without permission, as disclosed on the Form 5, notice must be sent to the occupier. The former exemption respecting LRA subsection 75(1) has been removed.
The regulations now specify that any notice and proof of service sent to a paper title holder (when registration is on the basis of title by possession) must be retained for review and audit. A new requirement has been placed in the regulations for those occasions when occupancy without permission comes to the attention of the owner after title registration. At that point, the regulations require that a Form 9 be sent to the occupier and that the notice and proof of service be sent to the Registrar General.
Section 11
Registration of Condominium Units
The regulations no longer require the creation of a condominium common “register” because the condominium common “PID” is merely a graphic representation of the common interest held by all of the unit owners.
In the future, POL will be updated to show the condominium common view, to differentiate it from a standard PID and parcel register.
Section 13 Addition of a Benefit or Burden to a Parcel Registered under the Act
Section 14 Addition of a Benefit or Burden to a Parcel not Registered under the Act
Section 15 Addition of Burdens and Restrictive Covenants which do not Require Identification or Addition of Benefit
Section 16 Exemption from Requirement to Identify or Add Corresponding Benefit or Burden
These Sections deal with benefits and burdens that are placed against parcels after initial title registration.
Sections 13-16 of the amended regulations cover off the fact that benefits and burdens need to be “handled” for both the servient and dominant PIDs (LR) and flagged in the grantor-grantee index (for affected non-LR parcels). New Form 8 (notice of benefit or burden) and Form 8A (notice under the Registry Act) have been created for this purpose.
Under the regulations, if the owners of affected parcels did not execute the document that created or evidences the benefit or burden, they must be given notice, which the lawyer must retain (along with proof of service) for review or audit.
Responsibility for doing “both sides” of the benefit and burden rests with the person who submits the document for processing. This includes amending the PDCA for all affected LR parcels.
An exception from doing “both sides” of the burden is given in Section 15 re: utility easements and restrictive covenants.
Where it is not practicable to identify the corresponding servient or dominant parcels on a “post-AFR” benefit or burden, Section 16 permits the registrar to grant permission to the lawyer to not deal with the “flip side” on written application.
Section 17
Notice of Overriding Interest in a Registered Parcel
This amendment requires notice in Form 8 to be sent to parcel owners when an interest holder is recording an overriding interest (as is permitted by LRA subsection 47(4)). The notice and Proof of Service must be retained for review and audit.
If the overriding interest is a benefit or burden, the lawyer submitting the Form 24 must also submit an amending PDCA for the burdened parcel.
Section 18
Owner’s Request for Rectification of a Registration
This streamlined rectification section deals with owners’ requests for rectification of the Registered interest only, as permitted by LRA Section 33. The Form 17, formerly used for all manner of corrections, is now only to be used for rectifying the registered interest.
Section 19
Rectification by Registrar General
The Registrar General’s rectification powers have been similarly streamlined and restricted to rectifying registered interests only.
Section 20
Interest Holder’s Request for Correction of Errors in Interests other than Registered Interests
The regulations now separate out all errors other than to the registered interest and the Form 49 has been adjusted accordingly. It is important to note that the Form 49 now requires a Certificate of Legal Effect because of the exposure to loss that corrections to recorded interests raise.
Section 21
Correction of Errors by Authorized Lawyer
This regulation amendment addresses a gap in the previous regulations, respecting corrections of the lawyer’s previously filed Certificate of Legal Effect. The replacement CLE will be a straightforward matter unless the parcel ownership has changed. If there are new owners, permission to record the Form 6A must be received from the Registrar General. The Registrar General may set notice or other requirements. Note that the Form 6A has to be submitted by the lawyer who made the error on the initial Certificate of Legal Effect.
Section 22
Access type, general location, civic and lot numbers have been made “additional information” for the purposes of Section 15 of the LRA. Note that after parcel re-configuration, parcel access type is placed in the register via a Form 45.
Section 24
The requirement to indicate the share or percentage of registered interest is now more clearly stated.
As has been the case since the regulations were amended in June 2006, no bundle is submitted to the LRO when registering a tenant in common interest in a registered parcel.
Section 28
Notice to Cancel or Amend a Recorded Interest
The process that was followed for cancellation or amending a recorded interest had been for the lawyer to submit a Form 15 with a statutory declaration and proof of service attached. Staff checked for the required attachments and then completed a Form 33 to remove the interest as well as the Form 15.
Form 15 has now become both the notice and the registrar’s cancellation of the security interest (removal document) assuming that all requirements have been met. The amendments eliminated the requirement for the registrar to record a Form 15 with Forms 11 and 12 attached and then LRO staff to complete a Form 33 to remove the recorded interest or judgment.
Form 15A is now used for cancellation or amendment of recorded interests or judgments under Section 63 of the LRA (as opposed to security interests, which are covered by LRA Section 60). Form 15A has now become both the notice and the registrar’s cancellation of the recorded interest or judgment.
Staff check for the required attachments (affidavit, proof of service, etc) and confirm that the required time period has expired and then remove the interest with the Form 15A acting as the removal document.