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Last revised
December 21, 1998

Memo to:

Land Registrars
Regional Surveyors
Head Office Staff

From:

Kate Murray
Director of Titles

Contents of the memo:

The Red Tape Reduction Act, 1998, received Royal Assent on December 18, 1998. I have enclosed a copy of the sections from this Act (called Bill 25) that pertain to the land registration statutes, for your information. These sections are essentially the same as those in Bill 117 which was sent to you February 5, 1997, but have been renumbered.

Also enclosed is a package of four bulletins which deal with most of the changes that will affect the registration of documents and the manner in which we process them. The four bulletins deal with:

  1. Miscellaneous items (Registry and Land Titles Acts);
  2. Notices of Lease (Land Titles Act);
  3. Power of Sale (Land Titles Act); and
  4. Cautions (Land Titles Act).

You will note that all of the amendments are effective as of December 18, 1998 with the following exceptions. The changes dealing with Cautions under the Land Titles Act will take effect June 18, 1999 to give clients sufficient notice of this change. Sections 14 of the Registry Act and 117 of the Land Titles Act regarding the provision for the land registrar to provide a Registrar’s abstract and a certificate of search respectively are repealed effective as of February 16, 1999. Amendments to sections 78(1) of the Land Titles Act and 49(1) and 108 of the Registry Act concerning the numbering of documents do not come into force until proclamation and are not scheduled for proclamation at this time.

Amendments were also made to sections 35 and 136 of the Land Titles Act which deal with writs of execution. At the time these proposals were made, the writs integration initiative was not finalized and as a result, the sections were to be proclaimed at a later date. I expect that these amendments will be proclaimed early in 1999. I will advise you when this occurs and a further bulletin dealing with these amendments will be issued.

The Land Titles provisions which deal with powers of sale have been amended so that solicitors have the option of either filing the current material required under Regulation 690 of the Land Titles Act, or making statements in a transfer under power of sale. This is consistent with the electronic registration system where law statements have been introduced. This should reduce the time spent reviewing this material and will benefit both the land registry offices and the clients.

In addition, the Land Registration Reform Act was amended so that it states that Part I applies to the whole Province and the power to designate lands under Part I has been repealed. As you know, Part I has applied to the whole province for many years, however both the Land Titles and Registry Acts contain many sections that refer to land that has not been designated under Part I. These sections were redundant and this amendment repeals these sections and will simplify both Acts.

Finally, Ian Veitch sent you a memo on December 11, 1998 with instructions concerning staff appointments and delegation of duties. The effective date of these appointments should be December 18, 1998.

If you have any questions about the bulletins or the amendments, please call either Margaret Wiseman at 314-4885 or me at 3144881.

Original signed by:

Kate Murray

Copied:

Ian Veitch
Catherine Ballantyne
Legal Services Branch
Regional Managers