With the Property Registry on track to release the province’s new land titles eRegistration system in December, Manitoba’s registrar-general announced this week that the new system will become mandatory for most users on April 3, 2018.
“The new eRegistration system will help us modernize land title registrations in Manitoba. This is an important step forward and we expect it will help improve service times while creating other efficiencies for users,” said Barry Effler, registrar-general for Manitoba. “It’s important that customers of the Property Registry take steps now to prepare for eRegistration.”
All lawyers, financial institutions and other high-volume users will be required to use the new eRegistration system on April 3, 2018. High volume users are those who typically submit more than 500 documents per year.
Users who typically submit more than 100 documents per year will be required to use eRegistration beginning October 1, 2018. Casual and low-volume customers will continue to be able to file paper-based forms.
“We have been consulting with our customers throughout development. We’re putting a real focus on making sure our customers get the training and support they need to start using eRegistration when it launches,” said Nancy Anderson, general manager of the Property Registry. “We are launching in December when our business volumes are lower. That will give people about four months to get used to working in the live system before it becomes mandatory.”
The Property Registry will be providing training and support in fall 2017 to help clients become accustomed to the new system.
The new system is expected to speed up land title registrations in the province by automating the registration and payment of submitted documents. The system is built using a series of secure digital smart forms, originally released throughout 2015 and 2016, that will reduce many of the errors and omissions currently found in paper-based submissions.
Use of the smart forms, including the form used to register mortgages in Manitoba, will become mandatory when eRegistration launches in December. That means financial institutions who want to register mortgages in Manitoba will need to update their standard charge terms and instructions to solicitors.
The eRegistration launch is the latest phase in an ongoing project the Property Registry has committed to through their service agreement with the province of Manitoba.
The Property Registry provides certification of titles to land, maintains land and survey records and offers reliable information of financial interests in personal property in Manitoba. The Property Registry is privately-owned and operated by Teranet Manitoba LP and is a service provider for the province of Manitoba. Oversight is provided by the Office of the Registrar-General.