663 Registration Of Tax Sale Purchaser As Owner

In This Volume

663 (1) If a parcel of land sold for taxes is not redeemed as provided in this Act, at the end of the redemption period, the collector must forward a notice to that effect to the registrar of land titles.

(2) The notice under subsection (1) must

(a) set out the full name, occupation and address of the purchaser, and
(b)
be accompanied by
- (i) the fees payable under the Land Title Act, and
- (ii) an application in the form approved under the Land Title Act for registration of title in fee simple in the name of the purchaser.

(3) It is not necessary with the application referred to in subsection (2)(b) to produce an outstanding absolute certificate of title or duplicate, or interim certificate of indefeasible title.
(4) On forwarding the notice referred to in subsection (1) to the registrar of land titles, the municipality must immediately notify the administrator under the Property Transfer Tax Act.
(5) The notice referred to in subsection (1) operates

(a) as a conveyance to the purchaser from the registered owner in fee simple, without proof of the signature of the collector and without an attestation or proof of execution, and
(b)
as a quit claim in favour of the purchaser of
- (i) all right, title and interest of every previous owner in fee simple of the parcel, or of those claiming under any previous owner, and
- (ii) all claims, demands, payments, charges, liens, judgments, mortgages and encumbrances of every type, whether or not registered under the Land Title Act,

subsisting at the time the application to register is received by the registrar, except the matters set out in section 276(1)(c) to (g) of the Land Title Act.
(6) One application may be made under this section on behalf of a purchaser for registration of any number of parcels contained in the same block and listed on the one notice produced for registration, but subject to the requirements of section 158 of the Land Title Act.

RS1960‑255‑407; 1962‑41‑19; 1968‑33‑116; 1978‑25‑327, 335; 1987‑15‑37, effective March 23, 1987 (B.C. Reg. 323/87); 1987‑64‑10, effective December 12, 1987 (the day after First Reading of 1987‑64); 1992-21-10, effective August 1, 1992 (B.C. Reg. 247/92); 1998-34-69, effective September 23, 1998 (B.C. Reg. 311/98); 2003-52-273, effective January 1, 2004 (B.C. Reg. 465/2003); 2004-34-10; 2004-66-149 and 2004-66-150, effective January 20, 2005 (B.C. Reg. 16/2005); RSBC 2015-1-663, effective January 1, 2016 (B.C. Reg. 257/2015).

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Regarding the form of notice (certificate of non-redemption) and application acceptable to the registrar, see s. 276 in Part 17 of the Land Title Act.

See Di Castri, Registration of Title to Land, vol. 2, para. 700 and vol. 3, para. 904.

CASE LAW

Effect of Registration on Builders Liens

A transfer of land to a purchaser under s. 420 of the Municipal Act (now s. 663 of the Local Government Act) provided that the purchaser took title clear of liens subsisting at the time of application for registration of title. A builders lien began to accrue before the date of transfer, as the claimant began the work before the transfer of title, and not from the date of registration of the claim of builders lien which was after the date of transfer. Accordingly, at the date of registration under s. 420 of the Municipal Act, all claims of liens accruing to that date were extinguished, and that included the claim of builders lien (Jovan Holdings Ltd. v. Port Hardy (District) (1986), 3 B.C.L.R. (2d) 49 (Co. Ct.)).

For a decision with respect to the finality of tax sales, see the annotation for Sun Wave Forest Products Ltd. v. Prince Rupert (City), 2012 BCSC 1908 under s. 276 of the Land Title Act and s. 669 of the Local Government Act.

See also the discussion of Re Maple Ridge, 2020 BCSC 1473 (Chambers) under “657 Owners must be given notice of tax sale and redemption period” in this chapter.