The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) supports the motion passed by the District of West Vancouver to determine the process, resources and time required to strike any remaining discriminating covenants on affected land title records relating to the District.
Enacted in 1978, Section 222 of the Land Title Act operates against any registered covenant that directly or indirectly has a discriminating effect, whenever registered and in whatever form created. Any covenants that restrict the sale, ownership, occupation or use of land on account of sex, race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin of a person are void and of no effect.
The Director of Land Titles issued Practice Note 01-15 to outline how discriminating covenants are treated. On being made aware of the continuing presence in the register of a discriminating covenant, the Registrar will act to amend the register and records. Where the instrument contains non-discriminating provisions that are not affected, the Registrar will make an endorsement on the affected document indicating that the discriminating covenant has been cancelled pursuant to s.222 of the Land Title Act.
Under the Land Title Act and in accordance with the principles of BC’s Torrens-based land title registration systems, the Registrar is expressly prohibited from erasing or rendering illegible the original words on a record. Thus, a ‘strike-through’ is made on the discriminating covenant so that it is more apparent on the face of a record that its discriminating components have been voided.
With over two million active titles in BC and four million transactions per year, LTSA relies on the assistance of homeowners, local governments, and other property professionals to identify the land title records that need to comprehensively reflect that any discriminating covenant is void.
Customers can submit a request to the Registrar by email to customerservice@ltsa.ca or by mail.