Grow the Business in the Public Interest
Develop new business opportunities and product innovations that solve problems for customers and society at large.
Key business initiatives and achievements delivered to support this objective include:
Land Owner Transparency Registry (LOTR)
The first-of-its kind in Canada, the Land Owner Transparency Registry (LOTR) is a public, searchable database of information about beneficial ownership of land in British Columbia. Beneficial land owners are people who own or control land indirectly, such as through a corporation, partnership or trust. LOTR launched on November 30, 2020, and opened to public search on April 30, 2021. The registry fulfills the Government of British Columbia’s commitment in Homes for B.C.: A 30-Point Plan for Housing Affordability in British Columbia to end hidden ownership of land by establishing a registry. Since its launch, LOTR has received over 430,000 transparency declarations and over 120,000 transparency reports, which are accessible and actively being used for search by ministry officials, regulators, taxing authorities, and law enforcement agencies as well as the general public. With the majority of outstanding filings now received as of November 30, 2022, new LOTR filings will continue to be submitted by property owners registering a change to interests in land.
First Nations National Land Registry
LTSA has been collaborating with the First Nations Lands Advisory Board and Resource Centre (LAB) to explore a new independent national land registry that would be governed by First Nations. This would provide reliable and trustworthy land-related systems and information to support First Nations who have land codes and wish to use these services to self-manage the governance, management, protection, and development of First Nation lands. During the year, LTSA and LAB completed further work to define and outline a preliminary solution and submitted a proposal for funding to the Federal Government.
These plans support LTSA’s commitment toward adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Land and Property Data Services
LTSA is well positioned to solve specific needs for key stakeholder groups, with a focus on items that improve transparency and efficiency in the real property market. This could include services on behalf of the Province of British Columbia, local governments, public sector entities as well as other stakeholders who participate in the real property market.
LTSA currently provides a variety of data services for government partners (including municipal, provincial, other agencies) such as:
- Aggregated land title updates
- Customized data queries
- Automated decision-making
AUTOPROP Technology
All real estate boards in British Columbia offer AUTOPROP as a service for their members, providing real estate professionals with a map-based service that helps them retrieve, export, and visualize real estate data in British Columbia. The widespread adoption of AUTOPROP improves information transparency and data access and enables real estate professionals to provide proper due diligence to their clients. Consumers benefit from having comprehensive property information, helping them make informed real estate decisions. This year, AUTOPROP continued to improve functionality and add new information layers that provide additional value for customers.
ParcelMap BC
Since its inception in 2017, ParcelMap BC has been adopted by 115 organizations, including municipal governments, utilities and provincial agencies, and is now considered to be the province’s ‘common canvas’ for geospatial data. LTSA continues to make ongoing updates to the cadastral fabric within two days of receiving changes, ensuring ParcelMap BC remains current. This year, LTSA initiated work to transition the foundational technology of ParcelMap BC to a more powerful system, enabling future expansion of LTSA’s geospatial services.