DCHP-3

land titles office

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
Land Titles Office

n. — Western Canada & Territories, Administration

a government office overseeing property ownership via land title documents.

Type: 2. Preservation — Land titles office appears to have been first used in Australia, where the Torrens system of land registration was first implemented. Various Commonwealth provinces and territories adopted the Torrens system shortly after its widespread success in Australasia, with Vancouver Island being the first to adopt it outside that region in 1860 (Taylor 2008: 31-34). The Torrens system is based on title rather than deed. Indeed, in the Atlantic provinces and in northern Ontario, where a deed-based land registry system is in place (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference), similar government agencies are often called land registries or land registry offices, e.g. Prince Edward Island Land Registry Office, or Fredericton Land Registry. By contrast, in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, northern Ontario, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, where a Torrens system is in place, the agencies are generally denominated land titles offices. Internet domain searches indicate that the term is most prevalent in Australia, followed by Canada (see Chart 1), making it Canadian in a North American context. Regional Canadian searches demonstrate the higher prevalence of the term in those provinces and territories where a Torrens system is used (see Chart 2).
See also COD-2, s.v. "land titles office", which is marked "Cdn & Austral.".

Quotations

1883
Mr. McCarthy's bill introduced this afternoon in the House to provide for the DECLARATION OF TITLES TO LAND, and to facilitate its transfer in the territories of Canada, is quite a formidable looking document of sixty-five pages. It is divided into fifteen parts. It provides for a land titles office, presided over by a registrar-general.
1884
Then as to indefeasability of title, which is a very important matter, the Torrens system has been very fully recognized in all the colonies where it has been established, as meeting every requirement. From New South Wales the Registrar General writes: -"While on the subject of fees I may perhaps be permitted to mention that the Land Titles Office is entirely self-supporting, as sufficient revenue now passes through the office to meet all expenses." I think this is an important feature, and especially when it is considered how very small the fee is. He continues "Although the act has been been in operation for nearly 18 years, no compensation has been made [...]".
1886
In each such registration district, at such place as the Governor in Council determines, there shall be an office, to be called the "Land Titles Office;" and the business of such office shall be conducted by an officer to be called the registrar, appointed by the Governor in Council, with such assistants and clerks as are necessary, and as the Governor in Council, from time to time, appoints.
1897
[...] in the registry office, but any person taking an interest therein may lodge caution under the land titles act. Persons who have registered instruments are given two years in which to register them in the land titles office.
1925
Additions to Registry and Land Titles Office, North Bay are to cost $10,000, and $40,000 is asked for to make extension to the Court House at Sudbury. The total expenditure asked for in the Public Works Department is $278,014.12.
1951
Certificate of title No. 180 B.I.D. in the Regina land titles office shows that Theatre Under the Stars Ltd. owns the land on which Sunset Theatre is located.
1974
"registered owner" means an owner of land whose interest in the land is defined and whose name is specified in an instrument in the proper registry, land titles or sheriff's office, and includes a person shown as a tenant of land on the land revised assessment roll.
1989
But, you say, you have a certificate of title issued by the Land Titles Office certifying as to your ownership. The paper title only certifies your ownership of a certain parcel of land.
2006
If buyers are worried, they can always contact the land titles office themselves to find out about any liens attached to a property, she said.
2016
The lots were purchased in late December, according to legal documents at the land titles office.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 30 Jul. 2013

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 30 Jul. 2013

Chart 2: Regional Domain Search, 30 Jul. 2013

Chart 2: Regional Domain Search, 30 Jul. 2013