Filing Requirements
Contents
Filing Requirements
View the Administrator’s Requirements for Filing and Applications and a summary of situations where a LOTA disclosure is required.
Beginning November 30, 2020, any time an application is made to register an interest in land as defined in section 1 of LOTA, a transparency declaration must be filed with the LOTA administrator by each transferee.
The transparency declaration must indicate:
- Whether the transferee is a reporting body;
- If the transferee is a reporting body, whether the reporting body is a relevant corporation, a trustee of a relevant trust or a partner of a relevant partnership.
A transferee that is a reporting body must also complete and file a transparency report setting out information about the reporting body and its interest holders. Different information is required depending if the reporting body is a relevant corporation, relevant partnership or relevant trust.
Reporting bodies with an interest in land acquired prior to November 30, 2022 were given until November 30, 2022 to file a transparency report. Each time interest holders change, the reporting body must file an updated report.
LOTR transparency declarations and transparency reports are filed at the same time as an application is made to register an interest in land with the Land Title Office. However, they do not form part of the records of the Land Title Office and instead are maintained in LOTR by the administrator in accordance with rules established in LOTA.
Transparency declarations and transparency reports will generally be submitted electronically to LOTR by legal professionals on behalf of their clients. Online forms for LOTR are available in your LTSA account.
An execution copy or a true copy of the execution copy is needed for the designate to apply their electronic signature. This means that the designate can email electronic copies of the completed transparency declaration and transparency report to the certifier of the reporting body. The certifier must print and ‘wet-ink’ sign the forms or sign using a digital signature acceptable to the designate and return the certified forms to the designate.
Once the transparency records are signed by the certifier, and the designate has an execution copy or true copy in their possession, the designate can only then apply an electronic signature to the online form(s) and submit to the Registrar of Land Titles.
Meaning of Indirect Control
The Land Owner Transparency Regulation provides guidance to trace through layers of a particular ownership structure to determine the individuals who have “indirect control” of a relevant corporation and who must be disclosed in a Transparency Report as interest holders.
The Regulation provides that indirect control (of shares or directors) of a corporation occurs when there is an intermediary between the reporting body and the interest holder(s).
Please refer to the Government of British Columbia’s website for more information and sample scenarios regarding indirect control.