Electronic Land Registration

The Province of Ontario is the first jurisdiction in the world to provide electronic registration of land-related documents. Since 1999 when the Land Registry Office in London, Ontario made the first transition from the old paper-based system, the province, together with its private sector electronic service delivery provider, Teranet Inc., has offered consumers and businesses a secure and technologically efficient online system for searching land records as well as for transmitting electronic, paperless land titles documents.
Work on this innovative system has been underway for a number of years. Its primary goals are to improve customer service, reduce client costs and increase both efficiency and records integrity. Electronic land registration has placed Ontario at the forefront of electronic service delivery and complements other electronic service improvement initiatives as part of the Ontario government's modernization strategy.

Automation of the Land Registration System

The Ministry of Government Services (MGS) began building POLARIS®, the Province of Ontario Land Registration Information System (POLARIS), in the late 1980s, with the objective of automating Ontario's land registration system. POLARIS consists of two databases: the title database with its abstracts of title information; and a database of maps that depicts approximately 5.7 million land parcels in the province. A separate database of digitized copies of instruments attached to land parcels has also been created as part of the electronic land registration system. Automated records are now available in all 54 land registry offices.

Conversion of Registry Parcels to Land Titles

At the same time as the province is automating records, it is also converting parcels registered under the Registry System to the newer Land Titles system. Under the Land Titles Act, the province guarantees title to property, subject to certain exemptions, removing the requirement to search titles back 40 years at the time of a transaction. The automation of the records and conversion of the Registry system to land titles is being done by Teranet for the Ministry in accordance with rules developed by the Ministry.

Electronic Land Registration

Electronic land registration was launched in Middlesex County in 1999 and since then has been implemented in the majority of counties and districts across the province.  Up to date information on the availability of electronic search and registration can be found here: www.teraview.ca/automation/auto_coverage.html

Electronic land registration documents rely on encrypted digital signatures identifying the party submitting the document for registration. Documents are created and modified “on-line” on behalf of the vendor and purchaser with a property's legal description and ownership information retrieved from Ontario's land titles database automatically inserted. Electronic land registration provides enhanced security, improves the accuracy and integrity of the database and has an electronic audit trail identifying transaction activity leading back to the user to further protect the system. Currently, registration volumes are approximately 2 million per year and over 99 percent of registrations are being received electronically.
For further information about the ongoing development and improvements to Ontario’s Electronic Land Registration System you can contact either:

The Government of Ontario
Ishtiaq Muhammad, Manager, eChannel Projects, Ministry of Government Services
416-314-4871 or send e-mail to Info.mgcs@ontario.ca

or

Teranet Inc.
Eric Black, Legal Counsel, Implementation
416-643-1022 or send e-mail to info@teranet.ca

Teraview® Software
The gateway software required to access and use the electronic land registration system is called Teraview, developed by Teranet Inc. in consultation with the Ministry of Government Services, real estate lawyers and other stakeholders. This award-winning Teraview gateway software is the first of its type in the world. The software's interactive function ensures that a properly executed instrument is submitted for registration by guiding the user through lists of options tailored especially for the specific document requested.

Please visit www.teraview.ca for detailed system requirement information and for more information on the Teraview service.   

Customer support for Teraview clients is available online. For instructions and helpful information go to: www.teraview.ca/csc/csc_intro.html

Teranet, Teraview and POLARIS are registered trademarks and e-reg and the Gateway design are trademarks of Teranet Inc. All rights reserved.