113 Deposit

FORMS

Application for Deposit of Statutory Right of Way Plan

Plans

The director requires the electronic Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office. This form is available at ltsa.ca.

PRACTICE

Survey and Plan Rules

The statutory right of way plan must comply with both the Survey and Plan Rules and the director’s directions for electronic plans. The rules are available at www.abcls.ca. The director’s directions are set out in the Electronic Land Title Plan and Plan Application Requirements, v. 2.6, available at https://ltsa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Electronic_Land_Title_Plan_and_Plan_Application_Requirements.pdf.

Deposit of Statutory Right of Way

A statutory right of way plan without any associated statutory right of way document can be searched for within the “Associated Plan” functionality in myLTSA. Searches for Associated Plans can be done by accessing the Plan Information associated with a particular parcel identifier number, or through the Plan Search functionality in myLTSA.

Right of Way over Crown Land

Registration of Fee Simple

Section 24(1) of the Land Title Act Regulation provides that:

• Where a right of way is granted over Crown land under section 40 of the Land Act, the registrar shall, on receiving the Grant, enter “Her Majesty the Queen in right of the Province of British Columbia” in the register as fee simple owner of the land covered by the grant.

Note that this regulation deals only with a right of way with a dominant tenement. See s. 40 of the Land Act for further information regarding easements and rights of way over Crown land.

Untitled Crown Land

With respect to the deposit of a statutory right of way plan over untitled Crown land without an accompanying Form C application for a statutory right of way:

1. the land title office has discontinued the practice of creating a PID number and legal description without an associated registered title upon the filing of a statutory right of way (“SRW”) plan over Unregistered Crown Land (“UCL”);
2. applicants preparing the Form C application for an SRW over UCL will determine the legal description following the practice outlined under s. 99 of the Land Title Act in this chapter;
3. only legal descriptions are to be used to identify lands in a Form C application for an SRW over UCL; and
4. PID numbers are not referenced in a Form C application for an SRW over UCL.

Electronic Plans

The Surveyor General Services submits to the land title office all SRW plans over UCL. Upon filing, the Electronic Filing System issues a Notice of Registration and an imprinted image of the registered plan. This notice and image of the filed plan are then forwarded to an appropriate unit within the Ministry of Forests which in turn notifies the person who will be drafting the SRW document within Ministry of Forests or the British Columbia Energy Regulator. Upon receipt of the Notice of Registration and plan image, the British Columbia Energy Regulator or the Ministry of Forests then proceeds with drafting the associated Form C, Statutory Right of Way document, including the legal description.

Legal Descriptions

The commentary under s. 99 of the Act in this chapter provides guidelines for creating legal descriptions. By knowing the filed plan number, whether electronic or hardcopy, and following the guidelines, the drafter can determine the correct legal description to be entered in the SRW document. The following are some examples of legal descriptions relating to SRW plans over UCL:

1. The following legal description applies to an SRW plan over UCL filed with a pre-assigned plan number of EPP100:
   • That part of Unsurveyed Crown Land Peace River District shown on Plan EPP100
2. An SRW plan is over two or more portions of untitled District Lot 500, Peace River District and the land surveyor has delineated the areas with a designation such as “Area 1” and “Area 2”. The following example shows how one of the legal descriptions would read:
   • That part of District Lot 500 Peace River District shown as Area 1 on Plan EPP100
3. In instances where there are two or more areas over UCL on the plan without a designation such as “Area 1” or “Area 2”, the following example shows how one of the legal descriptions would read:
   • That part of Unsurveyed Crown Land Peace River District having an area of 20 square meters shown on Plan EPP100

Document Submission

In order to submit the electronic Form C, “Statutory Right of Way—Crown Land” must be selected from the drop-down menu in item 3 of the electronic Form C. Item 2 of the electronic Form C must contain the legal description in the above noted format and must state “No PID Number” in the “PID number” field. The “related plan number” field remains blank. The person applying the electronic signature can ignore the warning messages related to the lack of PID number when selecting “Statutory Right of Way—Crown Land” in item 3 on an electronic Form C.

Searching the Records

If required, an image of the filed plan can be obtained from the Electronic Search Services in the land title office. This plan image displays the plan status in the annotation line at the top of the plan image. The status of a submitted Form C can also be ascertained by doing a title search using the Electronic Search Services. The title is searched by legal description with the pre-assigned plan number, in accordance with the guidelines in under s. 99 of the Act.

Surveyor General’s Signature Required

Electronic Plans

An electronic statutory right of way plan over Crown land requires the Surveyor General’s signature on the electronic Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office.

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Statutory Right of Way Plan Not Required

Sections 99(1)(e) and 117 of the Act provide for statutory rights of way without the necessity of a statutory right of way plan under s. 113.

Rules for Integrated Survey Areas

A statutory right of way plan must comply with the rules for integrated survey areas; for example, the plans have to be integrated with the control monuments. In this regard, see Rule 2-3 of the Survey and Plan Rules. If there are two statutory rights of way on one lot, the surveyor may use a heavy black line to show one and a hatched line to show the other, or may label the areas “A” and “B”.

CASE LAW

No evidence SRW was validly registered, and invalid for uncertainty in any case

Plaintiffs, successors to an owner developer in title to a portion of abandoned resort development lands, succeeded in obtaining (under s. 35 of the Property Law Act) cancellation of a statutory right of way that the owner developer had granted in 1998 to the defendant District of Ucluelet for a public waterfront boardwalk. The SRW had been registered on title, but “there is no evidence a statutory right of way plan relating to the [SRW] was ever deposited” (para. 44) as required by s. 113. The Notice Declining to Register, indicating the SRW was “returned” on the basis that a statutory right of way plan was required, was inconsistent with the SRW being validly registered. There was no direct evidence indicating the Registrar had dispensed with the requirement for the plan to be deposited. No submissions were made regarding the nature and effect of s. 113(6). Even if the SRW had been validly registered, on the evidence it was invalid for uncertainty (Skene v. Ucluelet (District), 2019 BCSC 2051).