Crown land offices

Crown Land Surveys

Crown Survey Records, within the Crown Land Surveys Unit manages Ontario’s survey records. Survey records are indexed in the Land Index System (LIS - NDMNRF’s digital recording system indexing Crown surveys and Crown documents). Records include original township plans, Crown location surveys, field notes, etc. and are searchable by township, district, surveyor, date, lot, concession, etc. All records are indexed by geographic township.

Copies of survey records can be obtained by contacting surveyrecords@ontario.ca.

Crown Land Registry

The Crown Land Registry Unit deals with the grant, sale or lease of Ontario’s public land. The rules governing the administration of these lands are set out under the Public Lands Act. Some of the forms of tenure issued through Crown Land Registry include: patents, leases, Land Use Permits (LUP), License of Occupation (LO), and Crown easements.

The Crown Land Registry Unit is distinct from the Land Registry Office where private land transactions are recorded and maintained. Email the Crown Land Registry Unit at crownlandregistry@ontario.ca.

Land Registry Offices
There are 54 Land Registry Offices throughout Ontario which register, store and manage documents such as deeds, mortgages and plans of survey. Registration of property is done under either the Land Titles Act or the Registry Act. All registered and deposited records are available to the public to search title or obtain information about the ownership. ServiceOntario manages and operates the Land Registry Offices.

Surveying related acts

The following is a small sampling of legislation that relates to surveys and plans in Ontario:

  • Surveys Act
  • Surveyors Act
  • Mining Act
  • Boundaries Act
  • Beds of Navigable Waters Act
  • Public Lands Act
  • Land Titles Act
  • Registry Act

To view these acts, visit e-Laws website.

Ownership terms

Acquired land
Acquired land is land that has been purchased, expropriated, forfeited, transferred or donated to the Crown.
Crown
The federal and/or provincial government(s) of Canada representing her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, who is the formal head of the government in Canada.
Crown land, public land, unpatented land
Land which is not privately owned and is under the administration and control of the Government of Ontario. This includes but is not limited to lands administered by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry or the Ministry of Transportation (highways). Approximately 87% of Ontario is public land.
Crown lease
A type of Crown patent giving a right to possess property belonging to the Crown for a fixed period of time, issued under authority of the Public Lands Act, by the Crown Land Registry.
Crown patent, or Crown letters patent
A legal document that transfers title (temporary or permanent ownership), a right (such as the right to flood a lake), or interest (such as an easement for an electrical transmission line) on or over public lands.
Crown location
A parcel of public land surveyed in accordance with the Instructions Governing Ontario Crown land Surveys and Plans, issued by the Surveyor General of Ontario.
Disposition
Disposition refers to the transfer of the ownership or rights to use Crown land from the Crown to private interests, other ministries, government agencies or the Federal government. Examples include orders-in-council, land use permits, licences of occupation and easements.
Land use permit
A permit issued under the Public Lands Act, which gives a personal right to use public lands for an authorized purpose, upon payment of a fee. Intended use and/or occupation is short term (10 years or less), is not transferable and there is no right of renewal.
Licence of occupation
A licence issued under the Public Lands Act which conveys a personal right to occupy public lands for an authorized purpose and includes a statutory right to maintain action against trespass. The term is negotiable (up to 20 years) and rights granted are transferable, with ministry consent, but there is no right of renewal.
Mining claim
A unit of land, including land under water, that has been staked by a prospector in accordance with applicable regulations and recorded with the ministry.
Mining rights
The right to extract minerals on, in or under any land.
Parcel
A unit of land that is registered in the Land Registry Office.
PIN (Property Identification Number)
Each property or parcel of land in Ontario is assigned a unique 9-digit number (e.g., 49876-0123).

Cadastral terms

Geographic townships
The original subdivision of land established by the earliest surveys in the Province for land administration (title) purposes. There are seven distinct township systems in Ontario. All Crown Survey Records are indexed by original geographic township name, not municipal township name.
Municipal townships
A political township system where areas have been incorporated as a municipality for administration purposes (e.g. taxation). Municipal townships may consist of one or more geographic townships or parts of geographical townships, and may change for administrative reasons.
Road allowance

Land reserved by the Crown to be used for public roads. The width of a road was generally sixty-six feet (66′) or 1 chain or 20.11 metres wide. In current surveys, road are now established at 20 metres wide.

In areas of the province that have municipal governments the road allowance are owned by municipalities, unless they have been closed and purchased.

Shore road allowance
A strip of land, 1 chain wide (66 feet), around some lakes and rivers established in the 1800s as public roads to allow access to and from the waterways. Office of the Surveyor General staff carefully examine the original township plans to determine whether a particular lake or river has a shore road allowance.

Plan types

Descriptive map
The boundaries on descriptive maps are not surveyed on the ground, but are mapped on computers using various digital data sources and cannot be used to accurately locate features on the ground. The boundaries shown on such a map clearly describe limits of areas of interest, by showing descriptive text along existing features found on the ground, such as waterways, roads, lot fabric and limits of private land, etc. These maps are often used for illustrative purposes or for inclusion in documents, sometimes leading to a survey.
Regulation plan
A regulation plan is a descriptive map which is of record in the Office of the Surveyor General and has been approved for regulation according to appropriate legislation (Public Lands Act, Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, etc.). To view these acts, visit the e-Laws website.
Survey plan (plan of survey)
A survey plan is a graphic representation showing the true (accurate and precise) location of legal boundaries. It is created from actual field measurements and can be used to accurately locate boundaries on the ground.

Survey terms

For more detailed information about Surveying, visit the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) website.

Cadastral surveying
Cadastral Surveying is the advising on, reporting on, conducting or supervising the conducting of surveys to establish, locate, define or describe lines, boundaries or corners of parcels of land or land covered with water.
Integrated surveys

A land survey whose points have been coordinated by GPS methods or relative to a monument with coordinate values that are of record with and are stored and made available by a control survey authority, such as a municipal, provincial or federal geodetic horizontal control network in compliance with a prescribed accuracy.

Also see the Performance Standards Regulation under the Surveyors Act, available at e-Laws website.

Legal description

The written words within a document that defines a parcel of land either by metes and bounds or by reference to a survey plan or regulation plan.

Metes and bounds

That part of a deed or transfer of land in which the boundaries of the property are described only in words without a plan or map. The description will start at a defined point on the ground (e.g., the North West corner of Lot 1, Concession 1) and continue around the parcel giving directions and distances or other identifiers and finishing up at the same point as the start.

The metes normally refer to the direction and distance of a boundary segment, such as Thence N35°44′E, 245 metres to a point.

The bounds would normally refer to a natural feature, such as Thence along the centre line of Jolly Creek.

Written descriptions are rarely used in current documents, in favour of a graphical representation of the boundary with reference to a plan or a map.

Ontario land surveyor
An Ontario Land Surveyor (OLS) is a professional member of the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS). They are required to maintain the necessary theoretical, practical and ethical standards set by legislation and the profession. For more information about the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors, visit the AOLS website. For more information about the Surveyors Act, visit e-Laws website.