1E9Ct5D

the province are mapped and assigned anidentification number. Title andencumbrances are confirmed by looking upthat number and reviewing the parcelregister/information page, which typicallylists the owner and any instruments whichmay affect the title: easements (bothbenefitting and burdening the land),restrictions and financial charges such asmortgages, debentures and liens.Judgments may or may not be found in theparcel register. Because of their naturethere is usually a special judgment rollwhich lists the names of people who arejudgment debtors.When land titles systems replace registrysystems a process has to be in place for thetransfer, (sometimes referred to as“migration”) of the information from onesystem to the other.The land titles system is clearly moreefficient and particularly suited to thecomputer age. The transfer of records is atime consuming process, however, and untilthe process is complete a province mayhave both a registry system and a land titlessystem operating in parallel from the samephysical office space (the “LRO”).Again mixing the old and the new, someLROs have only electronic records for publicviewing which may be accessed byauthorized users from computers anywhere,while other LROs have only paper recordsand one needs to attend physically at theLRO to review them.Recording CostsRecording fees differ from province toprovince, not only in amount, which is to beexpected, but also in character. In NovaScotia, for example, there is a standard feeacross the board for each document to befiled. In Newfoundland and Labrador, on theother hand, the fee for recording a mortgagedepends on the amount of the mortgageand can be as high as $5,000.Deed transfer taxes also differ fromprovince to province and sometimesbetween municipalities within eachprovince.DocumentsThe form and content of documents whichmay be filed at the LROs, whether under theregistry system or the land titles system,differ from province to province. Forexample, agreements of purchase and saleand caveats (documents intended to givenotice that someone believes/claims he hasan interest in someone else’s land, but notsufficient to establish that interest) are notrecordable in Nova Scotia though they arein other provinces. In New Brunswick andNewfoundland and Labrador amortgage/notice of mortgage may set outthe financial particulars but not all of theterms of the mortgage, which in NewBrunswick are incorporated by reference toa set of standard terms recorded separately.In Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Islandthe complete mortgage is always recorded.In New Brunswick, registrable documentsare restricted to certain forms prescribed byregulation under the Land Titles Act, whichmust be used for land titles registrations.The differences noted above underline theimportance of having someone who isfamiliar with a given jurisdiction’srequirements prepare your documents toReal Estate Law 68