Historically, land surveyors produced legal survey plans in hard copy format on various media such as linen and mylar. These hard copy plans were circulated to owners, charge holders and approving authorities who would, in turn, physically sign the plan. When many signatures were required, the process was time consuming and expensive, especially when the parties did not all live in the same community.
Filing survey plans through the Electronic Filing System (EFS) simplifies this process. What once took weeks can now be completed in a matter of days. EFS revolutionizes submitting, handling and storing legal survey plans, and it saves time and money.
The Electronic Survey Plan (ESP) process has been introduced in several releases.
- The first release went live on July 24, 2006 and enabled electronic submission to the Surveyor General of plans prepared over Crown land. This included survey plans prepared pursuant to the Land Act, the Mineral Tenure Act, the Petroleum & Natural Gas Act and the Coal Act.
- The second release in May 2007 enabled plans to be electronically submitted to the Land Title Offices, such as subdivision plans and strata plans. This release was offered to a limited number of land surveyors to test the system's basic functionality for simple land title survey plans.
- In February 2008, the ability to electronically file plans destined to the Land Title Offices was made available to all land surveyors, notaries and lawyers.
Process for Electronic Survey Plans
The process for electronically filing survey plans at the Land Title Offices is shown in the following figure and explained below (click on the image for a larger version):
ESP Steps
1. The land surveyor creates a survey plan in electronic format (PDF). The land surveyor affixes the plan to a Certification Form that he or she then digitally signs to certify that the plan is correct.
2. A plan Application Form is created by a lawyer, notary or land surveyor, as the case may be. The Application Form lists and provides space for all owners, charge holders and approvers to provide their signature in order for the plan to be deposited with the Land Title Office. Copies of the Application Form are sent to the owners, charge holders and approvers for their signature. Once they have signed the Application Form, they return the copies.
3. Once all the signed copies of the Application Form have been received, the lawyer, notary or land surveyor applies their electronic signature to the Application Form attesting to having copies in their possession of the Application Form (or true copies of the Application Form) bearing original signatures of the owners, charge holder and approvers.
4. The digitally signed Application Form and the Plan and the digitally signed Certification Form are then submitted through BC OnLine to the LTSA for examination and ultimately deposit or filing into the land title registry.
The process used by land surveyors to file their electronic survey plans over Crown land to the Surveyor General is similar.
Recommended Minimum System Requirements
Virtually every computer in use today in the legal professional's office has the capacity to run the Adobe Acrobat (R) software that EFS uses. However, if you have any questions about computer requirements, please see the minimum system requirements.
Electronic Forms - Land Survey
Land Surveyors: Download the blank electronic form templates needed to submit survey plans electronically via EFS.
Assistance and Training
- Do you have questions or need assistance regarding Electronic Survey Plan submission? Please contact the LTSA at 250-952-5021 and ask for the Electronic Survey Plan User Help Desk
