♬ We both know there’s something happening here
There’s no sense in dancing round the subject
A wound gets worse when it’s treated with neglect
Don’t turn around there’s nothing here to fear…♬
Lyrics and Music by Chas Sandford, recorded by Stevie Nicks.
The Torrens system of land title registration in British Columbia is approaching its 150th anniversary, having started on Vancouver Island in 1861. In the past 20 years in BC, there have been nearly 16 million land title transactions! Accordingly it is fitting to look at the changes that will be coming to the land title registration system in British Columbia.
Currently in British Columbia, the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia accepts certain documents to be filed electronically as well as in paper form. The list of documents that can be filed electronically can be found here. However, there is no sense in dancing around the subject – the day when only electronic documents will be accepted for filing will certainly not be 150 years into the future. If for no other reason, the cost of maintaining dual systems will cause this state of affairs to be ended in fairly short order. The environmental cost of maintaining a paper filing system (with its system of couriers, the transportation of paper between offices involving the use of fossil fuel as well as the needless destruction of trees) is another not-insignificant factor in converting to a totally-electronic filing system.
Aside from the physical and environmental cost of maintaining dual systems, there are many other good reasons for moving ahead into pure electronic filings. For one, the number of filings are increasing rapidly:
EFS is widely used across BC, and statistics from June 2010 show that 58.7% of all Land Title Applications were electronically submitted.
The acceptance of e-filing indicates that the system as designed by the LTSA works well – they have done a fine job in building the system to be usable and functional. Documents can be filed at any time of the day or night. Once documents are submitted electronically, they can be stored, searched and displayed electronically, at any time. By using a digital signature issued by Juricert (a service provided by the Law Society of British Columbia), which is attached to the Adobe Acrobat PDF format of the electronic document, the identity and qualifications of a lawyer or notary submitting documents for registration is verified.
So facing the writing on the wall, how does one come up to speed with e-filing?
If your firm doesn’t already use the Electronic Filing System (EFS) for submitting land title documents, getting started is inexpensive and easy. EFS training is approved by the Law Society of British Columbia’s Continuing Professional Development Program.
The LTSA and BC OnLine offer training at your office or via the Internet and ongoing telephone support, both at no charge to a lawyer or notary. Training can be arranged by calling the BC OnLine Helpdesk at (800) 663-6102 or (250) 953-8200.
Further resources:
- View EFS software and hardware requirements (PDF). This PDF lists minimum hardware and software required to file documents electronically in the LTSA.
- View the brief screencast, EFS: A Better Way to File, from the LTSA, to learn why a growing list of legal professionals are taking advantage of EFS for registering land title documents.
- View online tutorials which will help you with the steps needed to use EFS (which are free).
We both know that there is something happening here. Don’t turn around – there’s nothing here to fear.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Change Management, Issues facing Law Firms, Leadership and Strategic Planning, Technology, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.One Response to “E-Filing in the Land Title and Survey Authority”
October 21st, 2010 at 8:13 am
Connie Fenyo (President – Legal Support & Information Services at Dye & Durham Corporation) left a comment on LinkedIn on this post, but I thought I should post it here as well:
“Dye & Durham can also help law firms and notary practices in getting started. Through E-Tray (their e-searching/e-filing portal for all areas of practice), Dye & Durham provides fully supported electronic filing including electronic concurrent registrations (Online Meets).
Set-up takes less than 5 minutes and D&D offer training at your office, via the Internet with ongoing telephone and in-person support. Demos and training can be arranged by calling D&D’s E-Tray Training Coordinator at (800) 661-1811, (604) 257-1800 or etray@dyedurhambc.com. ”
Thanks Connie! Great advice.