Three Things to Know About the Land Owner Transparency Act and Registry

On November 30, the Land Owner Transparency Act (LOTA) and Land Owner Transparency Registry (LOTR) will come into effect. With them come new reporting requirements, filed by legal professionals, when an application is made to register an interest in land.

To help REALTORS® and your clients get ready for LOTA and LOTR, here are three things you should know:

1. The aims of the Land Owner Transparency Act are to end hidden ownership, crack down on fraud and close loopholes by collecting information about “interest holders,” or parties who don’t have a direct ownership but have a meaningful relationship or indirect ownership in land. This information will be stored in the LOTR, which becomes publicly searchable on April 30, 2021.
   
   
2. Legal professionals will be responsible for the actual filing of the transparency declarations and transparency reports (if necessary) on behalf of a potential buyer when an application is made to register an interest in land. Realtors should advise clients early on to speak to their conveyancers about these requirements. Realtors should also advise clients to plan for longer closing periods and additional costs for transactions when a buyer is a corporation, partnership or trust, not a resident of Canada, has beneficial owners or has shareholders outside of the country.
   
   
3. Even owners of properties that don’t change hands in the first year of LOTR are subject to the initial reporting requirements. Properties which currently have interest holders that are corporations, partnerships or trusts are required to file initial transparency reports by November 30, 2021. Realtors should be aware of these requirements and timelines and advise their clients to speak to legal professionals for further details.

To learn more about the Land Owner Transparency Act and Land Owner Transparency Registry and subscribe to updates visit landtransparency.ca. There you will find the Land Owner Transparency Registry Fact Sheet, which is updated regularly and has useful information to help Realtors and your clients become familiar with LOTA and LOTR.

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