Pre-Recording Checklist for all Documents
Accept Reject Criteria for all Documents including E-Submission
Policy
A. Sequence of recording of documents
B. Document Requirements
3. Plans
5. Document must be checked for completeness
7. At least one Grantor and one Grantee are present
8. Schedule A
9. Correct registration district
10. Book and page or document number and year
11. Properly executed, signed, sealed and dated
13. Name has to be typed, printed, or stamped below signature
14. Notary's seal
15. Corporate seal
16. Document contains a major revision
18. Documents within documents
19. Deed Transfer Tax Affidavit
All documents must be accompanied by the correct form. All documents being recorded in the GGI require a Form 44, 44A or 44B. See Instrument Types and Associated Forms for a list of forms required for land titles and roll documents. Forms 6A, 8A, 15, 15A, 21 (code 126), 24, 26, 27,45, 48A and 49 must contain the Submitter User Number of the authorized lawyer whose signature appears on the cover form. Forms 24, 26 and 27 must indicate whether a power of attorney applies to the document. Must be the most recent version of the prescribed form and the date must appear on at least one of the pages of the form.
Subsections 5(9) and 6(9) of the Land Registration Administration Regulations require that all documents must be legible when scanned and comply with standards respecting document quality and completeness.
For documents presented in paper, colors of ink cannot be used since certain colors such as green and red do not scan well. Staff must ensure that the signatures on the scanned image are legible. Colors used on plans will not be recognizable when scanned and colors shouldn’t be used to depict an area on a plan. Cross-hatching is a much safer method than using colors.
For electronically submitted documents, legibility also requires that all pages face upward.
Despite the wording of the LR Act Regulations 5 (4) and Registry Act Regulations 4 (2), we do not require the submission of two original plans or document attachments that are larger than 11 x 17 to a Land Registry Office since each LRO has been outfitted with a large format scanner.
Plans under traditional Registry with a Notice of Approval: For plans submitted to the Registry of Deeds system, 2 Form 44s are required, one to be attached to the Notice of Plan of Subdivision and one attached to the plan.
Plans submitted to the Land Registration system: One form 28 is required to be attached to the plan that will be scanned.
Note: Even though we only require one plan, some municipalities will provide additional copies for use by the mappers, or for certification purposes.
4. Recording fees, if applicable are present
For paper submitted documents that are chargeable, the appropriate recording fee(s) must be present for the document to be registered or recorded. If the document being recorded constitutes a doc in doc, the fees paid must include the additional recording fees applicable.
A recording fee is not required if a document has already been recorded. This would include documents recorded under both systems, a document that is recorded multiple times due to different effects on different parcels, or that affects more than 9 land titles PIDs.
5. The document must be checked for completeness*
*Completeness means: The document must be the original or a court certified copy (signed and sealed by the prothonotary; LSC not accepted) or a certified true copy of the original from another Registry Office;
Exceptions:
1. Orders in council under Registry Act Section 40 (1) and 40 (2).
2. Bankruptcy documents which are certified true copies from the Official Receiver
3. Company documents which can be certified true copies signed by the Registrar of Joint Stocks or the Director or Deputy under the Canadian Business Corps Act., or the Director under the controlling act for that type of company.
4. Letters patent of amalgamation where a Notarial Certificate or a certification that a true copy is attached (signed by an official of the issuing body) and a copy of the Amalgamation Document only is required. If a notarial certificate is present, the amalgamation document or the certificate must exhibit the notarial seal.
5. Documents which form part of another document as a schedule or attachment, in which case we are not concerned with their validity.
6. A document that is required to be recorded or registered with multiple forms due to the reasons indicated above must be an original, a copy certified by the lawyer (or someone authorized to certify documents -See Section 79 of the LRA, or Section 69 of the Evidence Act as applicable) or a registry certified document. In order to accept a certified copy, staff must have the original for comparison purposes.
Note: The Registrar reserves the right to question and investigate the inability to provide an original document in any other cases.
If sensitive information is present in a paper document, submitters must redact the information prior to submitting the document for recording. Otherwise, staff are permitted to redact any sensitive information that appears within the document.
If the document is an e-submission, it must be rejected with the explanation that we cannot accept the document for recording until the information is redacted.
NOTE: Sensitive information includes: SIN Number, bank account number, RSP/RRSP number, driver's license master number, NS ID number, health card number, passport number, credit card number, photographs, etc.
7. At least one Grantor and one Grantee are present (for ROD documents).
Exceptions:
Wills
Statutory declarations
Court orders, where there is no Grantee as such and ' In the Matter of ' is shown as the Grantee.
If the Grantor has not signed, the name shall not be indexed in the GGI.
Note: For e-submission the submitter may or may not be able to enter the grantor or grantee information and in these instances, staff will index the grantor/grantee.
Any document which conveys an interest in a particular parcel or area of land, requires a Schedule A and where Schedule A is required, *the property description contained in the Schedule A, must be legible. See Document Requirements Alphabetic for specific documents which require a Schedule A.
Note: Schedule A can be a PID alone for a land registration parcel. Under land registration a PID can be used in place of a metes and bounds description, but must be contained in the document and not simply quoted on the front of the cover form.
9. Correct registration district
The document must pertain to land in the registration district. Exception: judgments, general powers of attorney and discharge of judgments that relate to multiple counties (may reference another registration district, multiple districts, may show Various or Multiple, or may be left blank).
All other documents which have been presented for registration or recording in an incorrect registration district are to be returned unregistered with the exception of a time sensitive document (for these documents, the submitter is to be contacted without delay).
10. A book and page or document number and year
A book and page or document number and year are present if this document is a Release, Assignment, or Assumption Agreement, Renewal or Postponement Agreement, Satisfaction of Judgment, Form 15 or 15A, rectification or correction that is adding or removing an interest holder. While the rectification or correction document will appear as the enabling instrument for the addition/removal, the reference must be present to allow staff to make an instrument association to the affected document(s).
EXCEPTION: If the document number provided is ‘unique’ (where a document number is 8 digits or more), a year is not required
If the book and page on the document contains an error but the document is a release of mortgage relating to a land titles parcel and the correct book and page is shown in the Reference to Related Instrument field on the cover form, the interest may be removed if staff are certain that both relate to the same mortgage . This does not apply if the reference given on the form is clearly not the same document as is indicated on the release as opposed to a typo.
11. Properly executed, signed, sealed and dated
Execution/Signatures:
The document has been signed (all parties required to sign on land titles agreements in order for interests to be added and/or removed). At least one grantor must have signed for Registry of Deeds documents and staff only index the names of the parties who have signed.
Execution of Grantor by marking an “X” - If the Grantor made a mark (X) in lieu of a signature, the form of jurat used by the commissioner must be as follows;
Sworn To before me, at the City (or Town) of (e.g. Halifax) in the Province of Nova Scotia, this __ day of, ___ 20xx having first been read over and explained by me to the deponent (or declarant), who, being incapable of reading the contents of the affidavit or declaration, appeared to understand the same and made their mark in my presence.
______________________
(Signature of Commissioner)
John Doe
(print or type name of Commissioner)
A Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia
Also refer to Acceptance Criteria for Court Documents and Documents Not Requiring witness or proof of execution
Date:
The Document must also have a complete date appearing somewhere within the document (Month/Day/Year), either at the top of the document or in an affidavit of status/execution.
See Proof of Execution requirements for documents registered under the Registry Act or Land Registration Act, as applicable.
13. Name has to be typed, printed, or stamped below signature
The name has to be typed, printed, or stamped below or adjacent to the signature;
Of the Notary or Commissioner in accordance with Section 14 of the Notaries and Commissioners Act - for any document that has been executed after Jan. 1, 2007 [ROD and LR].
Of the person authorized under the Land Registration Act to take the affidavit or sign the certificate of execution, in accordance with Subsection 5(10) of the LR Administration Regulations - for any document executed on or after May 4, 2009 [LR only].
Note: A seal that includes the name is considered to be in compliance with this requirement.
If a person has signed as a Notary, the Notary's seal must be present if the document is from outside the Province only.
Exception: this policy does not apply to:
A land registration document, as s. 79 (5) of the LRA states that the certificate of the Notary is sufficient proof of their authority to sign a certificate of execution or take an affidavit without the need for a seal to be present.
A Quebec Notary (as they do not require seals or stamps).
If a document which requires a corporate seal, does not have it, do not reject the document if a properly executed affidavit of execution is present.
See: Corporate Execution Guidelines (LR Documents)
16. Document contains a major revision
If a document contains any major revision which has not been initialed by the appropriate party(s), the Registrar shall reject the document. A major revision is defined as inconsistency between what the document is purporting to do and what it is doing.
Exception: this policy does not apply to changes made to witness acknowledgments or affidavits of execution, as this type of a change isn’t altering the terms or meaning of the document.
Documents presented in any other language other than English must be accompanied by an English translation, in order to ensure that the Registry staff and users of the registry are able to interpret what the document is, who the parties are and what the document is purporting to do. The English translation does not need to be signed.
18. Documents within documents
Documents presented for registration with other documents attached shall be registered, but the attached documents shall not be indexed; the lawyer should be made aware of this fact. These documents/ attachments will attract an additional recording fee. Refer to the Doc-in-Doc policy to determine if an additional fee is applicable.
19. Deed transfer tax affidavit
If this document is a Deed (101) or Grant (104), or a lease for 21 years or more (445) (see section 3(t), MGA) ,*there must be a Deed Transfer Affidavit ( prescribed under MGA, August 1/2001) provided for each deed, grant or long term lease. Conveyances involving a property or properties which are contained within more than one Municipal Unit require a Deed Transfer Affidavit be completed for each Municipal Unit. See also Section 103 of the MGA for details on apportioning the value for the purposes of calculating the deed transfer tax payable to each Municipal Unit.
*If the document being presented is for a Municipal Unit where the LRO does not collect the DTT on their behalf, there must be a stamp on the document which indicates EITHER the DTT has been paid OR there is no DTT payable.
NOTE: The following website provides the Deed Transfer Tax Rate for each Municipal Unit: Deed Transfer Tax
Completed Deed Transfer Tax Affidavit means:
Current version of form: The DTT affidavit was revised on Dec. 1,2012 to include the following note (highlighted) that appears as follows;
Staff must ensure that the new version of the form that includes the above note regarding the sales price is submitted and not the former version, or it must be rejected.
Municipality: The correct name of the Municipality must be provided. It is not acceptable to simply state the County as the Municipality; i.e. Antigionish is not acceptable as a Municipality because there are two possible municipalities located within Antigonish County, (Municipality of the County of Antigonish and Town of Antigonish). The Municipal unit that appears in POL for the PID(s) being conveyed, must appear as the Municipality on the DTT Affidavit.
Sale date: The complete sale date must be present (day, month, year) on the deed transfer affidavit. Staff must ensure that the sale date on the DTT affidavit does not exceed the date of registration. This applies to both paper and e-subs. If the sale date exceeds the date the document was submitted for registration, staff must notify the submitter and request the affidavit be corrected.
Sale price: Sale price must be stated in all cases if the transfer was for value (see 3(bk) of the MGA, even if the sale is in a municipal unit that does not collect tax. This is for assessment purposes.
When properties in separate municipalities are conveyed in one deed, but have separate affidavits, the sale price must be associated with one municipal unit and DTT adjustments completed to transfer the applicable municipal units. Any parcels situate in multiple MU’s cannot be e-submitted due to system constraints and must be paper submitted.
Claiming exemption for deed transfer tax: If collecting on behalf of the Municipal Unit, and if purchaser is claiming an exemption, an acceptable reason for exemption is required. Staff are not required to vet the reason for exemption and will only ensure that a reason has been provided as we will rely on the opinion of the solicitor who is claiming an exemption.
Grantee mailing address: must contain a complete and valid mailing address for each grantee.
PID or AAN: If neither is provided, an explanation is required as to why one cannot be provided.
Signed and notarized by a Commissioner of Oaths, or Registrar of Land Titles: Registrars or others appointed as commissioners can sign affidavits of value or other documents (see section 14(3) of the MGA).
MU deed transfer tax stamp: If the deed transfer tax is collected by the MU, the deed transfer tax stamp must be present on the document.
Registry deed transfer tax stamp: If the deed transfer tax is collected by the Registry, the deed transfer tax stamp must be placed on the document (in paper only) by the registry staff, once the tax is paid or statement of exemption is provided on the affidavit. Note: The DTT stamp should be placed on the first page of the document and not on the form. Staff should avoid placing the stamp on the Schedule A. E-submitted documents will display the appropriate DTT statement on the form.
No deed transfer tax payable: For Municipalities where no deed transfer tax is payable, the deed transfer tax stamp is not required on the deed (in paper only). E-submitted documents will display the appropriate DTT statement on the form.
Note: Staff are not permitted to alter or add any additional information to a Deed Transfer Tax Affidavit, except to sign the Certificate of Registrar Acting as Treasurer of MU or to take the affidavit of the Grantee as Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
No document can be accepted in paper if the document is required to be electronically e-submitted. See list of Documents That Can be E-Submitted.