37 Registration Effective From Time Of Application

PRACTICE

Check Pending Registrations before and after Applying for Registration

Good practice requires that an applicant for registration check pending applications:

1. before applying, to confirm the current state of the title; and
2. one hour after submitting an instrument for registration, to determine whether any new hardcopy interests were noted as pending on title in the interim that may affect the applicant’s registration of a new indefeasible title or another interest on completion of the registration process. Pending numbers are available on the register and copies of pending documents are available from the land title office or myLTSA customer portal. For more information, see help.ltsa.ca.

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Regarding the operation of an instrument from the time of registration, see s. 22 of the Act.

See s. 153 of the Act regarding the registrar’s obligation to stamp or write the day and hour of an application’s receipt on the instrument and the effect of the day and hour stamped or written on such an instrument.

See Di Castri, Registration of Title to Land, vol. 2, paras. 663 and 742.

CASE LAW

Effect of Registration

See Dobek v. Jennings, 1927 CanLII 299 (AB CA), and Commonwealth v. State of New South Wales (1918), 25 C.L.R. 325 (Aust. H.C.), annotated under s. 20 of the Act.

Application of Section 37 and Related Provisions

Section 22 distinguishes between the date of registration and the date of execution of an instrument, making the effective date that of registration. Section 37 deems the date of registration to be the date of application. Section 36 deals with proof of registration and its acceptance as evidence. Each of these sections is independent of the others, and s. 37 is the final and determinative provision as to the effective date of registration (254861 B.C. Ltd. v. Assessor Area No. 02, [1985] B.C.J. No. 1344 (QL) (S.C.)).

Registration Pending

A landlord issued a notice of termination to a tenant the day after she signed a Form A transferring the property occupied by the tenant to the respondent. The sale completed the following day and registration was effected two days later. In upholding the validity of the termination notice, the court found that the landlord continued to have an interest in the property until she was paid for it. Had the tenant looked at the register on the date the notice was delivered, he would have seen a pending application for registration of the transfer of the property. However, at that point, the registration could still have been withdrawn. Accordingly, as the vendor was still the landlord on the day the notice of termination was issued, a writ of possession was issued (Fleetwood Investments v. Ghavami, 2003 BCCA 459).