Converting lands to “Land Titles Absolute” before condominium registration

Post by: Craig Robson In Ontario, before a condominium can register, the lands must be registered in “Land Titles Absolute” or “Land Titles Plus”.  These are the highest categories of title available under the Land Titles Act.  Most Ontario lands continue to be “Land Titles Conversion Qualified”.  The “Conversion Qualified” category has qualifiers that do not apply to the “Absolute” and “Plus” categories, including the qualifier that “Conversion Qualified” lands are subject to “any title or lien that, by possession or improvements, the owner or person interested in any adjoining land has acquired to or in respect of the land”. The application to convert requires a title search by the project lawyer and a boundary survey by the project surveyor.  The boundary survey is circulated to the neighbouring land owners with a warning that if they do nothing the boundary shown on the survey will be certified as the true boundary of their property.  If a neighbour does not agree with the boundary, then the neighbour can object to the application. In greenfield developments there are usually far fewer boundary issues than exist in built up areas. In built up areas, very often fences are constructed “off boundary”, sheds encroach and significant use has been made of the proposed condominium property by neighbours.  If the property has been vacant for some time, this use can be significant and long standing. It is important to respond to neighbour’s objections in a principled fashion to minimize potential for delays in the conversion process, which if lengthy can also delay condominium registration. For more on options for responding to objections to your LTA conversion application, check out our earlier blog article here: "Responding to Objections to an Application to Convert to LTA”. http://www.rcllp.ca