Torrens system (land titles system)

You meet the term when a business sale includes land or a building and the title register becomes part of closing. British Columbia’s Land Title Act provides for indefeasible title, described below. See the entry on a title search and the answer on whether the real estate purchase is a separate agreement.

Alberta and British Columbia

The Government of Alberta says the province’s land registration system is based on the Torrens system and operates under the Land Titles Act. It adds that assurance fees under that Act pay claims by people deprived of interests in land through mistakes of the Registrar or wrongful acts of third parties, and who are prevented by the Act from suing to recover them. In British Columbia, an indefeasible title, while in force and uncancelled, is conclusive evidence at law and in equity, as against the Crown and all other persons, that the registered owner is indefeasibly entitled to an estate in fee simple, subject to the exceptions listed in s. 23(2) of the Land Title Act. The Land Title and Survey Authority describes two assurance funds under that Act.

What to check

This entry covers Alberta and British Columbia; check the rules where you are. Ontario law has both a Land Titles Act and a Registry Act, and the Courts of Justice Act refers to land registered under either, so ask which applies to the property.

• Which land registration statute governs the property
• What charges, caveats and other interests the register shows
• Which exceptions to the registered owner’s title the statute lists