Skip to main content

In This Volume

  • 278 (1) If land, the title to which has been registered,
  • (a) has been forfeited to the government for nonpayment of taxes, or
  • (b) becomes vested in the Crown for the use of the Province,
  • the Surveyor of Taxes or other proper officer must file with the registrar a certificate of forfeiture or vesting, as the case may be, signed by the Surveyor of Taxes or other proper officer.
  • (2) The certificate must set out a description of the land sufficient for the registrar to identify it in the register.
  • (3) A certificate of forfeiture or vesting filed under this section is satisfactory evidence to the registrar that the Crown is entitled to a good, safeholding and marketable title in fee simple to the land described in the certificate.
  • (4) On filing a certificate of forfeiture or vesting under this section, the registrar must
  • (a) cancel every indefeasible title and duplicate indefeasible title relating to the land described in the certificate of forfeiture or vesting, and
  • (b) register a new indefeasible title to the land described in the certificate in the name of the Crown.
  • (4.1) If the certificate affects an absolute certificate of title, the registrar must make such entry in the records the registrar considers necessary to give notice of the interest of the Crown.
  • (5) The title of the Crown, on registration under this section is, subject to section 276, conclusive and is deemed to be the true and correct title from the time of registration, free from encumbrances, and is conclusive evidence that every application, notice, publication, proceeding, consent and act whatever that ought to have been made, given and done before the issue of the certificate by the collector or other proper officer has been made, given and done by the proper authority to the proper persons.

1979-219-257; 1982-60-72, proclaimed effective August 1, 1983; 1987-31-10; 1999-33-22, effective July 29, 1999 (B.C. Reg. 252/99).

FORMS

Certificate of Forfeiture under Taxation (Rural Area) Act

Submissions

On the Form 17—Fee Simple, select Nature of Interest, Taxation (Rural Area) Act, Certificate of Forfeiture, and attach an image of the original certificate of forfeiture signed by the Surveyor of Taxes.

Certificate of Redemption under Taxation (Rural Area) Act

Submissions

On the Form 17—Fee Simple, select Nature of Interest, Taxation (Rural Area) Act, Redemption or Revesting, and attach an image of the original certificate signed by the Surveyor of Taxes.

The following form of certificate of redemption may be used under the Taxation (Rural Area) Act.

PRACTICE

Redemption of Property Forfeited under Taxation (Rural Area) Act

Registration of Certificate of Redemption

On redemption, the Surveyor of Taxes files a certificate of redemption similar to the form of certificate shown above under the heading “Forms”. The registrar gives the certificate a serial number and treats it as a pending application. Applicants must include property transfer tax returns with all vesting orders or certificates of redemption.

Certificate of Redemption Operates as a Crown Grant

On the basis of the certificate of redemption, the registrar registers a new title.

Transitional Provisions

Section 278 of the Act was amended by s. 22 of the Finance and Corporate Relations Statutes Amendment Act, 1999. Section 62 of that Act deals with certificates of forfeiture or vesting that were filed before July 29, 1999 and provides:

  • Saving provision for certificates filed under section 278 of Land Title Act
  • 62 (1) If a certificate of forfeiture or vesting was filed under section 278 of the Land Title Act before the coming into force of the amendments to that section as enacted by this Act, the filing and endorsement of the certificate in the register continues to have effect as it did when filed and until the registrar cancels every indefeasible title and duplicate indefeasible title relating to the land described in the certificate of forfeiture or vesting and registers a new indefeasible title to the land described in the certificate in the name of the Crown.
  • (2) The registrar is not required, in relation to a certificate described in subsection (1), to do anything more in respect of the certificate than was required at the time of filing unless a further application is made under section 278 of the Land Title Act as amended by this Act.

1999-33-62, effective July 29, 1999 (B.C. Reg. 252/99).

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Forfeiture and Redemption under the Taxation (Rural Area) Act

See ss. 39 to 41 of the Taxation (Rural Area) Act at chapter 61 (Taxation (Rural Area) Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 448) regarding the forfeiture and vesting of land in the government for nonpayment of taxes and the revesting of the land in the former owner upon redemption.

Secondary Sources

See Di Castri, Registration of Title to Land, vol. 2, para. 700.