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Overview Of The Environmental Management Act

In This Volume

Part 4 of the Act provides for the remediation of contaminated sites and creates a duty to identify such sites through the completion and delivery of site disclosure statements.

GENERAL EFFECT ON LAND TITLE PRACTICE

Section 40 of the Act sets out the circumstances in which various parties must produce site disclosure statements, including applicants for subdivision and vendors of real property. Section 53 of the Act provides for the issuance of approvals in principle and certificates of compliance by a manager for the remediation of contaminated sites. In addition, the manager may require the registration of a restrictive covenant under s. 219 of the Land Title Act.

Due to the lengthy and complex nature of the Environmental Management Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 53 and regulations, only provisions of the Act and the regulations that are relevant to land title practice are included in this chapter.

For information about liens for the recovery of administrative monetary penalties under the Administrative Penalties (Environmental Management Act) Regulation, B.C. Reg. 133/2014, see chapter 68 (Government Liens, Charges, and Administrative Penalties).

CROSS REFERENCES AND OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Contaminated Sites Regulation

See the Contaminated Sites Regulation, B.C. Reg. 375/96, which deals with matters such as the prescribed form of site disclosure statement, the circumstances in which a site disclosure statement is required, the exemptions from those requirements, and the circumstances in which certain persons are not responsible for remediation of a contaminated site. See in particular Part 9 of the regulation, which deals with approvals in principle and certificates of compliance. Section 48 of the regulation details the purposes for which a manager may require a covenant under s. 219 of the Land Title Act and the circumstances in which the covenant may be discharged. Sections of the regulation of particular relevance to land title practice are reproduced below under sections of the Act.