Land Title Practice Manual

89 Notice To Owner

In This Volume

  • 89 (1) In this section, “owner” includes a person alleged by the judgment creditor to be a judgment debtor and to have acquired from or through a registered owner, by transfer, transmission or otherwise, an estate or interest in the land in question.
  • (2) The registrar, on completion of a registration under section 88 must, by registered mail, send to the owner against whose title the judgment has been registered a notice in the prescribed form, together with a copy of the certificate of judgment.
  • (3) Except as provided in section 91(4), subsection (2) does not apply to a renewal of a judgment.
  • (4) If no reply is received from the owner as provided in the notice, no further act by the registrar is required in respect of the notice.
  • (5) If the owner alleges that he or she is not the judgment debtor referred to in the certificate of judgment, the registrar must make further inquiry or investigation the registrar considers necessary or advisable and, for that purpose, the registrar may
  • (a) take evidence under oath or otherwise,
  • (b) require the production of records, and
  • (c) decide whether or not the owner is, in fact, the judgment debtor and whether the judgment does or does not affect the land described.
  • (6) If the registrar is satisfied from the evidence taken under subsection (5) that the owner is not the same person as the judgment debtor, the registrar must make an order accordingly.
  • (7) The registrar must at once deliver or mail by registered mail to the owner and the judgment creditor a copy of the order.
  • (8) If the judgment creditor does not, within 21 days after the order is delivered or mailed, proceed under subsection (10), the registrar must cancel the registration of the judgment; but if the judgment creditor or his or her solicitor approves of the order, the registrar may cancel the registration at once.
  • (9) If the registrar decides that the owner is the judgment debtor, the registrar must make an order accordingly and promptly deliver or mail by registered mail a copy of the order to both the judgment creditor and the owner.
  • (10) If the judgment creditor does not approve of an order made under subsection (6) or an owner does not approve of an order made under subsection (9), he or she may, within 21 days after the registrar’s order is delivered or mailed to him or her, make an application in the nature of an appeal to the Supreme Court, and section 309 of the Land Title Act applies in respect of the application.
  • (11) If the registrar cancels the judgment under subsection (8), the judgment creditor must at once pay the owner $25 as compensation for expenses incurred as a result of the registration of the certificate of judgment.
  • (12) The compensation payable under subsection (11) constitutes a debt recoverable in the Provincial Court.
  • (13) If a notice under subsection (2) is mailed to the person referred to in subsection (1) a copy must also be mailed to the registered owner.
  • (14) This section does not apply in respect of a judgment registered on an application made under section 87.

1979-75-81; 1982-46-10, proclaimed effective August 1, 1983.

REGULATIONS AND FORMS

Notice to Registered Owner of Registration of Certificate of Judgment

Section 29 of the Land Title Act Regulation, B.C. Reg. 334/79, prescribes Form E in Schedule B, as reproduced below:

PRACTICE

Judgment Debtor Does Not Have Registered Interest

Where the judgment debtor does not have a registered interest, the registrar sends a notice to both the judgment debtor and the registered owner from whose interest the judgment creditor alleges the judgment debtor takes their unregistered interest. The registrar takes the judgment debtor’s address from the application and takes the registered owner’s address from the registered title.

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Additional Compensation Where Judgment Cancelled

See s. 90 of the Act.

Renewals Where No Notice Sent Previously

See s. 91(4) of the Act.

Secondary Sources

See Di Castri, Registration of Title to Land, vol. 3, paras. 950 and 954.

CASE LAW

Procedure for Disputing Registration

In the process of administering an estate, the executors registered the will-maker’s home in their names jointly. The two executors were also residual legatees under the will-maker’s will. Judgment creditors subsequently registered a certificate of judgment under the Act against the registered half-interest of one of the executors. The executors petitioned the court under Rule 10(3) (now Rule 16-1(2)) for an order determining the validity of the certificate of judgment. The court held that the executors followed the wrong procedure. The specific provisions of s. 89 of the Act, which provide for an application for relief to the registrar, supersede the general provisions of Rule 10(3) (now Rule 16-1(2)). The court held that it had no jurisdiction to consider the petition, but it proceeded to do so anyway in the interest of assisting counsel to resolve the matter (Re Hollebone, 1982 CanLII 687 (BC SC)).

An owner of property who alleges improper registration of a judgment must follow the procedure set out in s. 89 of the Court Order Enforcement Act, but a joint owner who seeks clarification of their beneficial interest in the land may bring an application under Rule 10 (now Rule 2-1(2)) (Lumley v. Lacasse, 1992 CanLII 2151 (BC SC)).