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Bulletin information:

Issue Date: August 22, 1994
Legislation: The Land Titles Act

Bulletin content:

A document to be registered under The Land Titles Act dealing with the whole of an existing parcel should include only the parcel number (and section, if any), property identifier (if any) and a reference to the municipality, lot, part lot or other unit on the plan or concession it affects followed by a statement that the document deals with all of the parcel. An additional written (metes and bounds) description or reference to parts on a Reference Plan only needs to be referred to if the document deals with part of an existing parcel. In this case, a full written description is still required and in the case of a Transfer, the property division box in Box 5 must be marked.

Subsection 140(1) of The Land Titles Act provides that land shall be described in such manner as is best calculated to secure accuracy. Section 142, enacted in 1984, lays down the above as the basic description requirement. Despite this, the practice of adding a complete written, metes and bounds description has continued in many areas. This is not required under the legislation, imposes unnecessary workload on those preparing and reviewing the documents and most important, creates potentially serious problems where such descriptions do not match descriptions already included or referred to in the parcel register. We have therefore concluded that omitting written metes and bounds descriptions will enhance the overall accuracy of land titles records.

Original signed by:

Anthony G. Sharp, Deputy Director of Land Registration
Katherine M. Murray, Director of Titles