Converting Your Property from the Registry System into the Land Titles System in Ontario

Sejal Morzaria

Historically, the province of Ontario has maintained two paper based systems of land registration: the Registry System and the Land Titles System. Over the last few years, there has been a movement towards the automation of all land registration under a program called POLARIS ( Province of Ontario Land Registration and Information System). During the automation process, the ‘old’ registry records are converted into the land titles system which is a more organized and simplified method of recording land.  

How is land converted from the Registry System into the Land Titles System?

There are two ways in which land can be converted from the Registry System into the Land Titles System. The first is by way of a ‘first application’ by an owner of the land to the land registry office. In order to make the application, the owner is required to provide a 40 year title search, a current survey, serve notices upon interested parties, and if necessary, attend a hearing at which any objections to title are resolved. Upon approval of the application by the land registry office, the applicant’s land is converted from the Registry System into the Land Titles System. Thereafter, the parcel register will show LTA (Land Titles Absolute) in the “Estate/Qualifier field”, and title is subject to all of the qualifiers listed in section 44(1) of the Land Titles Act.

The second conversion method is the ‘administrative conversion’. This occurs during the land registry’s process of automating registry system records. During this automation process, registry system records are converted into the Land Titles System. Once this conversion is complete, the parcel register will show LTCQ (Land Titles Conversion Qualified) in the “Estate/Qualifier field”.

During the administrative conversion, the land registry office carries out searches and examines all records in relation to compliance with the Planning Act, dower rights, succession duties and escheats. Thus, title converted from the Registry System into LTCQ is guaranteed as to these items up to the date of conversion. However, because the administrative conversion process does not require an application to be made by the owner, and therefore does not include a current survey, a notice of application to be served upon interested parties, or a hearing process that would identify and resolve title disputes or adverse claims, the converted land will still be subject to any lease to which subsection 70(2) of the Registry Act applies, the rights of any person who would be entitled to the land or any part of it through adverse possession, prescription, misdescription or boundaries settled by convention.

Do you need to upgrade your LTCQ title?

The registered owner of administratively converted LTCQ lands can upgrade title to what is referred to as Land Titles Absolute Plus (LTA+). This is done through an application to amend the parcel. The LTA+ parcel will not be subject to the subsection 44(1) qualifiers listed in the Land Titles Act in respect of planning compliance, possessory interest of adjoining land owners, dower rights, escheats and succession duties which results in more protection than that offered in a standard absolute title.

There are many reasons why you may want to upgrade your LTCQ title:

• If you are planning to develop your LTCQ land by condominium or subdivision, you will be required by law to upgrade your title. The law requires that new subdivisions and condominiums be registered with an absolute title subject to limited exceptions. Apart from this statutory requirement, the benefit to the landowner is that the limitations or qualifiers as to ownership can be removed. Therefore, potential adverse claims, unregistered leases, boundary disputes, and misdescription of the land can be resolved and or eliminated, thereby allowing the landowner to pursue the development project with full protection against these adverse interests.
• If you wish to consolidate an LTCQ parcel with a land titles parcel you must upgrade the LTCQ parcel as the land registry office will not consolidate parcels with different qualifiers.
• If your land is subject to disputes and adverse claims that you wish to resolve you may apply for an upgrade to kick-start the land registry hearing process, which will determine the dispute, and the final upgrade will eliminate any such future adverse claims.
• If you are applying for a loan to which your LTCQ land will be attached as security; your lender may require an upgrade to an absolute title as a condition of the loan.
• If you are in possession of land that has been converted under the automated administrative process, you may apply to claim and perfect a right to ownership through the upgrade procedure, provided you have been in possession of the land for at least 20 years.

How to apply: The upgrade process

The process is the same regardless of the reason for your application except if you are claiming and perfecting a right to ownership through possession, in which case, there are additional requirements that must be met.

The standard process involves the following steps:

• Preparation of a draft reference plan by an Ontario land surveyor illustrating the extent of the land;
• Search and review of title records by a solicitor;
• Preparation and service of a notice of application and a copy of the draft reference plan, on all adjoining landowners and other interested parties (any discrepancies as against the register must be resolved by the surveyor together with the solicitor before serving any notices);
• The landowner must then wait 30 days for any objections to be raised before proceeding with the application to the land registrar; and
• If any objections are raised that cannot be resolved between the landowner and the objector, the file may then be referred to the land registry for review, and if necessary, a full hearing may be held by the director of titles.

Once all of these steps have been completed, the application is ready for submission to the land registrar. Once the land registrar is satisfied with the application, it will remove the qualifiers and enter the applicant as the owner with an absolute title.