The Land Title and Survey Authority (Authority) of British Columbia administers British Columbia's land title and survey systems, and collects associated user fees. Under its Operating Agreement with the province, the Authority retains a portion of the user fees (base fees), with the balance being remitted to the province. The Authority's customer fees relate to statutory services performed under legislation and other customer services.
Effective April 1, 2008, the Authority will increase some of its Land Title Act base fees equal to the adjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of 2 percent. The increase will be reflected in the customer price list of fees payable to the Authority.
The modest inflation adjustment will result in a small customer fee increase. For example, for a typical residential transfer requiring a property title search and registration of a transfer and mortgage, the fees will increase by $1.05 from $137.90 to $138.95. This is an increase in total fees to the customer of only 0.8 percent. A similar increase to the Land Title Act fees was applied in 2007.
The Authority will use revenue from the modest fee increases to address the impact of inflation on operations, and to provide better and faster document submission and access for our clients. The increase in fees will also assist in supporting the significant capital investment required for business transformation initiatives. These initiatives centre around business re-engineering efforts to improve the customer experience, and the development of new products and services to meet customers' needs. In addition, the preservation of historical material will be supported in part by the fee increase.
The Authority's base fees relate to statutory services performed by the Authority under provincial legislation, including the Land Title Act. Under its Operating Agreement with the province, the Authority may increase its base fees annually by the adjusted CPI. The Authority will review the need for CPI increases annually.
The CPI increase has been approved by the Authority's Board of Directors and is supported by the Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Details of the 2008 fees for land title and survey services are shown in the attached 2008/2009 customer fee schedule.
