Direction 16: Surveys of Crown Land Pursuant to the Land Title Act and Land Act and Submission of Resultant Plans to the Surveyor General

Direction to Land Surveyors No. 16 (Updated November 25, 2024)

This Direction to British Columbia Land Surveyors updates the Direction on this subject posted on the LTSA website dated October 30, 2023.  Updates have been made to acknowledge survey plan preparation methods now available through SurveyHub, as well as changes to Surveyor General policy on approval of plans of Crown land being deposited into the land title register.

This Direction provides information on the application for survey instructions or parcel designations and provides information on the process for submitting electronic plans of Crown land prepared pursuant to the Land Title Act and Land Act to the Surveyor General.

Background

As stated in Circular Letter 475B, prior to undertaking any survey of Crown land pursuant to the Land Title Act or the Land Act, other than a statutory right of way, an application must be made to the Surveyor General for survey instructions, and additionally, in the case of surveys under the Land Act, for a unique parcel designation.

Previous practice did not require an application for survey instructions for Land Title Act surveys of Crown land. However, it has become apparent that issuing instructions for surveys conducted pursuant to the Land Title Act will have a number of benefits. These include:

1. Ensuring that the full extent of the survey and plan requirements are understood;
   As part of the issuance of survey instructions and parcel designations, Surveyor General Operations staff frequently communicate with the Province to clarify the Province’s land use plans that are behind offers to sell and offers to lease Crown land. Often this includes determination of whether the Province wants to establish public road or highway.
2. Ensuring that the appropriate parts of the Survey Rules are applied to the survey and plan(s);
   Surveyor General Operations staff can answer questions about which parts of the Survey Rules are applicable for particular surveys, including for the establishment of public road or highway.
3. Enabling Surveyor General Operations staff the opportunity to determine if certificates of title, portions of registered plans or primary parcels can be cancelled;
   It is in the public interest to keep the survey fabric as clear and orderly as possible. The Surveyor General has the ability to cancel certificates of title under Section 103 of the Land Title Act, the ability to cancel whole plans or parts of plans pursuant to Section 136 of the Land Title Act, and to cancel primary parcels pursuant to Section 75 of the Land Act. Cancelling titles, plans and primary parcels, which are no longer required, cleans up the fabric and can result in more efficient surveys for the land surveyor.
4. Enabling Surveyor General Operations staff to update government’s Crown Land Registry appropriately;
   The Province relies on the Surveyor General to update the Crown Land Registry each time Crown land is surveyed. The Surveyor General must provide certain information to the Province each time a survey of Crown land is completed as part of the Province’s Crown land disposition process.

Surveys of Crown land can be requested by a person who has received an offer from the government to purchase or acquire an interest in Crown land, or surveys can be requested by a government ministry.

The majority of plans prepared over Crown land are statutory right of way plans. These plans can include surveyed or unsurveyed Crown land, and titled or untitled Crown land.

For other forms of tenure, posting plans, explanatory plans, reference plans and subdivision plans prepared pursuant to the Land Title Act, or survey plans prepared pursuant to the Land Act, are often necessary to meet the conditions of an offer the Province has made.

In some circumstances, the Province will directly contract with a land surveyor to conduct surveys over Crown land. Often, these contracts are for the establishment of highway pursuant to the Transportation Act, or for surveys of lands that form part of an agreement with a First Nation.

All plans must be submitted to the Surveyor General through the Electronic Filing System (EFS). EFS is accessed via a myLTSA Enterprise account. The introduction of SurveyHub provides surveyors a portal to assemble and store plan and dataset information, prepare the Survey Plan Certification (SPC) and, depending on the submission, the associated Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office (DSPL), or Survey Plan Submission to Surveyor General (CLRS) forms. After the plan and forms are assembled in SurveyHub, they can then be submitted to LTSA using EFS. Legal plans can also continue to be prepared in the traditional manner, by downloading the appropriate SPC, DSPL, or CLRS forms from the LTSA website and filling in the information through a PDF editor, such as Adobe Acrobat.

Web Filing continues to be the portal for preparation of statutory application and plan submission forms to the Surveyor General. Users input application information directly online, using Web Filing forms on myLTSA. Once information is entered and validated, the appropriate final PDF Form is generated. These PDF Forms can then either be sent to EFS directly or downloaded and then added to the application submission package, and final submission of application packages occurs through the usual EFS process. Outputs from SurveyHub can be packaged with the associated Web Filing plan submission forms, either by appending them to an existing Web Filing package, or by creating a new package in EFS with all relevant forms uploaded for submission.

Application for Survey Instructions and Parcel Designations

Prior to undertaking any survey of Crown land pursuant to the Land Title Act or the Land Act, other than a statutory right of way, an application must be made to the Surveyor General for survey instructions and, in the case of surveys under the Land Act, for a unique parcel designation.

An application for survey instructions or parcel designation can be made by completing the Web Filing form, setting the Application or Plan Type dropdown list to “Parcel Designation / Survey Instructions” and uploading supporting information to Surveyor General Operations through web filing.

The following information must be included in the package submission:

1. A completed Application for Parcel Designation and/or Survey Instructions web filing form;
2. A copy of the accepted offer of grant or lease from a Crown ministry and the proposed survey sketch attached to the offer. If a survey is being conducted at the request of a provincial government ministry, documentation from the ministry requesting the survey (such as a signed contract) is required;
3. Any additional information that may assist with issuance of survey instructions or creation of the parcel designation, including any prior correspondence with Surveyor General staff related to the file.

The application will be reviewed by Surveyor General Operations staff and the applicant will be provided with an email containing specific survey instructions and unique parcel descriptions and associated Parcel Identification Numbers (PIN), as appropriate. There is no fee associated with this application.

Submission of Plans Prepared under the Land Title Act

Process Common to All Plan Types

Land Title Act plans of Crown land are submitted to the Surveyor General as part of a package. Packages are submitted through EFS, and application forms are created in Web Filing and can be sent directly to EFS packages or manually downloaded from web filing and then re-uploaded to EFS. Depending on the specific plan, the Web Filing form’s Application or Plan Type dropdown list must be populated with the corresponding plan submission. For Land Title Act plans of Crown land, these include:

• LTA SRW Plan
• LTA SRW BCER Plan
• LTA Plan
• Section 80 Land Act Plan

The Surveyor General Practice Guide contains instructions for Web Filing.

If a survey was conducted as a result of a direct contract with a Provincial Crown ministry, this must be indicated in the “Explanatory Notes” field on the Web Filing form. In these instances, the “This is a fee-exempt BC government application” checkbox on the Web Filing form should be checked because surveys conducted under contract with provincial ministries are exempt from survey plan submission fees.

The plan and affixed Survey Plan Certificate (SPC) form, and any required supporting documentation (as detailed below), are packaged with the Web Filing form and submitted to the Surveyor General through EFS.

If Surveyor General Operations staff seek amendments to the survey plan, the applicant will be notified of the required change(s) by email. The revised survey plan must be attached to a new SPC form and electronically signed in the usual manner. This can be accomplished by creating a plan variation in SurveyHub, which will generate a new SPC form; or through the traditional process of downloading a new SPC form from the LTSA website and appending it to the updated plan. The plan and SPC form are packaged with the relevant application form generated through Web Filing and submitted to the Surveyor General through EFS.

Once Surveyor General Operations has completed the review of the plan and it is found to be acceptable, the land surveyor will be notified by email.

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If Surveyor General Operations requests additional information, the application form will need to be re-submitted with that additional information. Updates to the application form are made through Web Filing by opening the existing Web Filing package and making edits to it. The Web Filing form should be updated with the addition of notes in the “Explanatory Notes” field to explain what new information is contained in the subsequent submission. The remainder of the information contained upon the form must remain unaltered from the original submission. When edits are complete, continue to the “Web Filing Form” page where a new Web Filing PDF form is generated.

Once a new Web Filing PDF form is generated through the Web Filing process, it will need to be downloaded (by clicking the Download button below the Web Filing Form preview) and manually attached to the related EFS package. The “Prepare Submission” button should not be clicked as it will result in creating a new EFS package, as opposed to amending the existing package. For detailed instructions on re-submitting an application, see Submit Additional Information or a Plan Alteration to the Surveyor General.

Note that PDF application forms generated through Web Filing cannot be edited in Adobe Acrobat – the content needs to be edited within the Web Filing portal and a new PDF needs to be generated.

Obtaining Owner Consent for Plans of Titled Crown Land

Where a subdivision plan or reference plan is of land that is titled to the provincial government, an official from the Province, generally from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (WLRS), must sign the DSPL form on behalf of the government as registered owner.

Designated staff at WLRS have signing authority where title to the land is in the name of the Crown, in the name of WLRS, or is in the name of a former ministry, the responsibilities of which now rest with WLRS.

WLRS officials do not need to sign DSPL forms related to statutory right of way plans or posting plans.

A list of Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship offices and contact information is available in Schedule A. If you are preparing a subdivision or reference plan of land titled to another government ministry, please contact us for information regarding authorized signatories.

Payment of Surveyor General Operations Fees

Fees are withdrawn from the Submitter’s myLTSA Enterprise deposit account when the Web Filing form is submitted through myLTSA. The fees for all submission types are listed on the LTSA website, on the Fees page.

Specific Requirements by Plan Type

Statutory Right of Way Plans

If the SRW plan is for oil and gas purposes, the Surveyor General submission is to include:

• A completed Web Filing application, with “LTA SRW BCER Plan” selected as the Application/Plan type in the Web Filing form’s Application or Plan Type dropdown list;
• An image of the BC Energy Regulator (BCER) letter stating that the plan complies with the application area approved by them; and
• A digitally-signed SPC form and affixed survey plan image.

If the SRW plan is not for oil and gas purposes, the Surveyor General submission is to include:

• A completed Web Filing application, with “LTA SRW Plan” selected as the Application/Plan type in the Web Filing form’s Application or Plan Type dropdown list;
• A copy of the offer or licence document for the SRW from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, including the sketch plan and the page of the offer that has been signed by the applicant; or
• If the SRW has been prepared at the direction of a government agency a copy of a letter or other document requesting and authorizing the survey needs to be included in the returns; and
• A digitally-signed SPC form and affixed survey plan image.

For statutory right of way plans, Surveyor General staff will prepare the DSPL form and submit these plans for land title registration unless the applicant directs us otherwise.

Subdivision, Reference and Posting Plans

You must first obtain survey instructions, as described above.

The following information is to be included in the plan package submission to the Surveyor General:

• A completed Web Filing application, with “LTA Plan” selected as the Application/Plan type in the Web Filing form’s Application or Plan Type dropdown list;
• A DSPL form which has been filled out and contains all the required owner and approval blocks but has not been digitally signed.
• A digitally-signed SPC form and affixed survey plan image.

For subdivision, reference and posting plans, the land surveyor or their client’s legal professional is ultimately responsible for preparing an Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office (DSPL) form and for submitting the plan for deposit in the Land Title Register. The Surveyor General must review and approve the plan by signing the certificate on the DSPL form.

When a Land Title Act plan is prepared for the Ministry of Transportation and Transit, the Surveyor General’s approval is not required on the DSPL form.

Once the plan has been reviewed by Surveyor General Operations staff and it is found to be acceptable, the land surveyor will be notified of approval by email and provided a copy of the Surveyor General certification page on the DSPL where applicable. The land surveyor or their client can now gather the necessary additional consents and approvals on the DSPL form and submit the plan for land title registration.

There are occasions when a land surveyor will have prepared a posting plan that shows new posts set at corners of a titled, Crown-owned parcel when no associated offer was made by the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. In these situations, the reason for the survey should be noted on the application (in the Explanatory Notes field) and fees for the plan submission to Surveyor General Operations are not required. The checkbox with the wording “This is a fee-exempt BC government application” should be checked.

Section 80 Land Act

You must first obtain survey instructions, as described above.

The Surveyor General may establish a public road allowance through Crown land under Section 80 of the Land Act to access privately owned land being subdivided.

Before the Surveyor General can approve a subdivision plan establishing road through Crown land, authorization to establish a road must be obtained from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship through a FrontCounter BC application.

The following information is to be included in the plan submission to the Surveyor General:

• A completed Web Filing application, with “Section 80 Land Act Plan” selected as the Application/Plan type in the Web Filing form’s Application or Plan Type dropdown list;
• A DSPL form which has been filled out and contains all the required owner and approval blocks but has not been digitally signed. The DSPL must contain the appropriate SG signature block pursuant to Section 80 of the Land Act;
• A copy of the authorization to establish a road over untitled Crown land from the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship;
• A digitally-signed SPC form and affixed survey plan image.

Once the certificate for the signature of the Surveyor General has been signed, it will be scanned and emailed back to the applicant, at which point other consents and approvals can be obtained. The certificate bearing the hardcopy signature will be mailed to the applicant.

Submission of Plans Prepared Under the Land Act

You must first obtain a parcel designation, as described above.

Once the survey is completed, the resultant plan image must be affixed to the  Survey Plan Submission to Surveyor General (CLRS) form, and electronically signed. This can be done in SurveyHub, or through the traditional process of downloading the CLRS form from the LTSA website. The completed plan and CLRS can be submitted to the Surveyor General through EFS.

If Surveyor General Operations staff seek amendments to the survey plan, the applicant will be notified of the required changes by email. SurveyHub can be used to create a new plan variation, where the amended plan can be uploaded, and appended to an updated, electronically signed CLRS form and re-submitted through EFS. Alternatively, the revised survey plan can be attached to the original unsigned CLRS PDF form, the form can be electronically signed, and then re-submitted through EFS.

If the survey was conducted as the result of a direct contract with a provincial Crown ministry, this must be indicated in the “Explanatory Notes” field on the CLRS form. In these instances, the “Deduct LTSA Fees” checkbox on the form should be unchecked because surveys conducted under contract with provincial ministries are exempt from survey plan submission fees.

Once the plan is confirmed by the Surveyor General, it will be filed in the Crown Land Registry and the applicant will be notified of the plan approval by email.

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The applicant is encouraged to assemble their plan in SurveyHub, so that plan alterations can be easily managed. Alternatively, the applicant should save a completed but unsigned copy of the CLRS form that they have prepared for specific plan submissions. If Surveyor General staff request the submission of additional information, the CLRS form will need to be re-submitted with this additional information. The remainder of the information contained upon the form must remain unaltered from the original submission.

For further assistance on any of these matters, please call the LTSA Customer Service Centre at 604-630-9630 in the Metro Vancouver area, or 1-877-577-5872 if calling from elsewhere in BC, Canada and the United States.

Dave Swaile, BCLS, CLS

Senior Deputy Surveyor General