2020-02 Plan approval and filing

Bulletin information

Issue date: October 5, 2020
Legislation: Land Titles Act, Registry Act

Bulletin content

The purpose of this Bulletin is to advise of changes to the approval and filing of plans of survey in the land registration system effective October 13^th, 2020.

Plan pre-approval

The plans pre-approval by email service was introduced in August 2017. Since that time over 98 percent of land survey firms have enrolled to use this service. This initiative supported the ongoing land registration improvement to provide electronic services to customers.

Based on the success of this process, we are now requiring all land surveyors to use the plans pre-approval by email service as the primary method of obtaining approval prior to submitting all types of plans for registration or deposit

Exception requests, based on issues such as file size or plan complexity, must be obtained through a request to PlanSubmissions@ontario.ca. Requests will be reviewed and alternatives to email will be provided if necessary.   For clarity, clients are not to attend a Land Registry Office with hardcopy plan pre-approval submissions unless directed.

Plan filing

1. Remote Expedited Deposit of Reference Plans

Effective October 13th, 2020 a new plan deposit process, Remote Expedited Deposit (RED), is being introduced for a select number of Land Registry Offices, as set out in Appendix ‘A’.

This new process only applies to the following plan types:

• All Registry Reference Plans (includes Strata Plans)
• All Land Titles Reference Plans (includes Strata Plans and No PIN Plans) - except plans supporting a Land Titles Conversion Qualified to Land Titles Absolute Plus Application (LTCQ to LT Plus) or First Registration under the Land Titles Act

Under this new process, a land surveyor is required to submit their pre-approved reference plan by mail or courier to a designated Support Centre. The plan package must include a transmittal or covering letter from the land surveyor or land survey firm submitting the plan. The transmittal must include an up-to-date email address for the land surveyor or survey firm.  In addition, the plan package must include a copy of the pre-approval with the required number of paper prints and the deposit fee. Submission of a surveyor’s duplicate plan is not required under this process.

Upon filing, a PDF image of the deposited plan will be returned to the land surveyor at the email address provided in the transmittal/covering letter.

2. Other hardcopy plans

Reference plans

Approved hardcopy reference plans intended for Land Registry Offices listed in ‘Appendix B’, are to be sent by mail or courier to the Land Registry Office in which the land included in the plan of survey is situated.

The plan package must include a transmittal or covering letter which includes the mailing address for the land surveyor or survey firm.  In addition, the plan package must include a copy of the pre-approval with the required number of paper prints and the deposit fee.

Upon filing, the surveyor’s duplicate will be sent by courier to the address provided in the transmittal/covering letter.

Surveyors submitting reference plans for deposit where the Land Registry Office is noted as a ‘Plans Processing Centre’ in ‘Appendix B’, have the option to either provide a surveyor’s hardcopy duplicate that will be returned by courier to the address provided in the transmittal/covering letter or request that a PDF image of the deposited plan be returned to the email address provided in the transmittal/covering letter.  Only one format (PDF or hardcopy) of deposited plan will be returned to the land surveyor.

Registered plans

For registered plans such as subdivision plans, condominium descriptions and expropriation plans, the final pre-approved signed hardcopy plans should be sent by mail or courier to the applicable Land Registry Office noted in the approval.  Upon certification of the plan or condominium declaration and description, duplicate copies of the registered plans will be sent by courier to the surveyor, lower tier municipality and upper tier municipality, if any.

3. ePlans

Electronic submission of Survey Plans (ePlans) is currently available for land titles reference plans. An electronic document with applicable statements has been developed in Teraview for deposit of these plans. Land surveyors are encouraged to use this optional process for submitting land titles reference plans.

To submit plans through direct electronic transmission, a surveyor must obtain a Teraview licence, and must receive authorization from the Director of Land Registration for electronic registration of documents. Information regarding these processes can be found on the Teranet and Ministry websites.

There are no changes for the filing of ePlans.  Questions regarding ePlans can be sent to the Examiner of Surveys at  examiner_of_surveys@ontario.ca.

Appendix A: support centres and supported offices

Appendix B: plan processing offices and centres

Original signed by

Ken Wilkinson
Examiner of Surveys

Dan Petoran
Director of Land Registration