How the New Brunswick Land Titles System Works for Owners

When you own a home in New Brunswick, your ownership is recorded in a public system, and how it is recorded affects how you prove title, borrow against the property and sell it. Many owners never think about this until a purchase, a refinance or a dispute comes up.

This article explains the basics of the Land Titles system in plain language: how parcels are identified, what records you can ask for, how mortgages are registered and removed, and how Land Titles differs from the older Registry of Deeds.

This article covers the law of New Brunswick.

A system built around parcels of land

Land Titles is a parcel-based registration system. It uses a Parcel Identifier, known as a PID, to uniquely identify each parcel of land and to record interests in that land.

The PID matters in practice. Describing land by its approved PID is a sufficient description for every transaction, instrument or proceeding relating to it, and the registrar may reject an instrument that does not describe the land by its approved PID.

Do not confuse the PID with the Property Account Number (PAN). The PID is a land-parcel or map identifier, and it is separate from the PAN used for assessment and taxation.

Proving who owns registered land

For registered land, any person can require a certificate of registered ownership from the registrar on payment of the prescribed fee. The certificate is evidence in all courts of its particulars as of its date and time.

The words "as of its date and time" are important. A certificate shows the record at one moment, so a later registration may change what the record shows.

Mortgages and discharges under Land Titles

Registered land is mortgaged by registering a mortgage in prescribed form, and a mortgage in prescribed form is deemed to contain the prescribed covenants and conditions.

When a mortgage is paid out, it is removed by registering a discharge of mortgage in prescribed form. A discharge can cover the whole mortgage, part of it, or only some of the land.

Releasing a person from promises under the mortgage is a separate step. A mortgagee may release a covenantor from some or all covenants by registering a release in prescribed form.

How Land Titles differs from older registry records

Requirements differ between Land Titles and the Registry of Deeds, and instruments must be properly executed and accompanied by all pertinent documents and approvals.

• Land Titles records interests against a parcel identified by a PID.
• Older land is handled through the Registry of Deeds, which has different requirements.
• When land is converted to Land Titles, a lawyer must do a final Registry of Deeds search and give Service New Brunswick the certificate of title.
• Lawyers issuing certificates of title follow the Standards for the Practice of Real Property Law published by the Law Society of New Brunswick.

The Form 3 certificate of title is given to Service New Brunswick for land being brought into Land Titles. It confirms that a title search was done under those Standards.

Who files the paperwork, and what to do next

Electronic instruments can generally be submitted only by subscribers, meaning Law Society of New Brunswick members authorized to practise law who have an agreement with Service New Brunswick. There are stated exceptions. Paper submission is allowed in limited cases, such as when a registered owner submits the instrument personally.

• Keep copies of your deed, mortgage and any discharge.
• Ask a lawyer whether your land is in Land Titles or still in the Registry of Deeds, since the requirements differ.
• Get legal advice before signing or registering anything that affects your title.

Frequently asked questions