KELOWNA - The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) and the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors (ABCLS) announced the official launch of Electronic Survey Plan submission functionality at the ABCLS Annual General Meeting in Kelowna. In addition to being able to submit Land Act, Mineral Tenure Act and Petroleum & Natural Gas Act plans electronically for filing into the Crown Land Registry, electronic plans prepared pursuant to the Land Title Act and the Strata Property Act can now be submitted electronically for deposit into the Land Title Registry.
Submitting electronic plans through the LTSA's Electronic Filing System (EFS) provides a number of benefits to land surveyors, lawyers, notaries public and their clients:
- Consents and approval signatures can be gathered concurrently and via e-mail. This can significantly expedite the approval process where a legal plan requires multiple signatures and consents, especially when the signing parties do not all reside in the same area.
- The need for couriers is eliminated. Transmission of legal plans to owners, charge holders, approving officers and the registries is instantaneous, saving time and money.
- Because electronic transmittal is instantaneous, the land surveyor, notary public or lawyer know who has the legal plan and when they receive it. No more tracking late or lost packages through couriers or estimating arrival times.
The forms required for Electronic Survey Plans and the accompanying user guides are available on the LTSA section of BC OnLine. Training on Electronic Survey Plans for land surveyors can be arranged by calling the LTSA at (250) 952-5021. Training for lawyers or notaries public can be arranged by calling the BC OnLine Helpdesk at (800) 663-6102 or (250) 953-8200.
- View information on the Electronic Survey Plan Process
Backgrounder on Electronic Survey Plans
Electronic survey plan submission is available to all land surveyors, lawyers and notaries public in British Columbia having a Juricert-issued digital signature.
Aligning with existing Electronic Filing System (EFS) design, two forms
are required for submission of electronic plans to the Land Title Office:
- Survey Plan Certification Form. A Plan Image, looking much like a mylar legal plan image, except without signature blocks, is attached to a Survey Plan Certification Form by the land surveyor who conducted the legal survey. The land surveyor applies their digital signature to this form certifying that the survey and plan are correct.
- An Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office Form (Application form) is prepared under the direction of a land surveyor, lawyer or notary public. The Application form shows much of the information that one would see on a paper Application to Deposit Plan form today. The Application form also contains signature blocks for all those persons who must provide consent or approval in order for a plan to be accepted for deposit by the Land Title Office.
As the legal plan is an electronic image, consenters and approvers cannot sign it. Rather, they sign a paper copy of the Application form. In practice, once the Application form is prepared it may be sent, concurrently, and via e-mail to all consenters and approvers. Recipients print the Application form, sign it and have their signature witnessed, and then return the signed Application form by fax or scan it and e-mail it back to the land surveyor, lawyer or notary.
Once all the signed copies of the Application forms are received, the land surveyor, lawyer or notary is in a position to submit the plan to the Land Title Office through EFS. The land surveyor, lawyer or notary digitally signs the 'original' Application form certifying that they have in their possession copies or true copies of the Application form bearing original signatures. The digitally signed Application form and the digitally signed Certification form and attached Plan Image are then submitted to the Land
Title Office through EFS.
For further information:
- Jeff Beddoes, Deputy Surveyor General, LTSA, (250) 952-5324
- Chuck Salmon, Secretary Treasurer and Registrar, Association of BC Land Surveyors, (250) 655-7222
