After at least two years of huge delays, the government is saying Land Titles registration delays have been eliminated or almost eliminated. At times, the backlog has been as long as four months. 

It’s been very frustrating for those of us who close a deal on, say, June 1, but our clients don't see a new title until about October 1. In addition to the frustration, its also stressful and confusing for clients. 

As another example, what about those buyer clients that bought a property on June 1 and wanted to sell July 1 or August 1? Due to the registration delays they wouldn’t have a title in their name yet. We figured out workarounds, but lack of registration caused uncertainty and lenders hated it.

Land Titles registration times are down to 10 to 12 days. The government says this is now 'normal,' and for those of you would like to go directly to the Land Titles Office, the full front counter service has reopened to the public.  

With Land Titles now caught up, the government is spending money to modernize the Land Titles office. The Alberta government says they are investing nearly $60 million over three years to replace the Land Titles Office’s outdated systems and improve service delivery. The province said many of these systems are paper-based and ill-equipped to respond to changing market conditions. When this work is complete, it is expected documents will be processed within five business days.

If you have multiple deals tied together you can now tell your clients about these quicker registration times which certainly smooth out what has been a difficult and confusing situation.

Protect yourself.

Cheers,

Barry

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