November 4 & 5 FOLA Real Estate Update

The latest updates from FOLA were posted yesterday and November 4. There’s a new mortgage discharge escalation list available on the Canadian Bankers Association. As well, reminders regarding Teraview increasing their fees earlier this month. The two updates are below.

Teraview Fee Increases

This is a reminder that Teraview fees increase every year on November 1.  Registration fees are now $77.62 and a parcel register (first page only) is $33.28. See the full list of current fees in Bulletin 2020-03 here.

Mortgage Discharge Escalation List

The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) updated its list of contacts for mortgage discharges and escalations. The updated list has been posted on the Law Society website here.

Changes To Writ Fee Reporting

A notice regarding changes to the fees for writ details has been posted on the Teraview® website here.

Plan Approval And Filing

Bulletin 2020-02 details the new process for the approval and filing of plans of survey in the land registration system effective October 13, 2020. A copy is available here.

Delivering Mortgage Discharge Payments by Wire

LawPRO has posted an up-to-date list of financial institutions that are accepting mortgage discharge payments by wire, including payment instructions. See LawPRO’s Avoid A Claim Blog here for further details.

As per the FOLA update posted November 4, they are seeking input on the updates to the mortgage discharge protocols and Document Registration Agreements. For details, please see the below from FOLA.

Thank you for your ongoing efforts on behalf of the real estate bar.  As indicated in the most recent FOLA real Estate Update, FOLA has recently met with reps from the OBA and the LSO through the Real Estate Liaison Group regarding a variety of topics. 

We are seeking input on two current topics.  It is our hope that there may be 2-3 FOLA reps who be interested in assisting on one of the two subjects below. 

Updating mortgage discharge protocols

Lawyers are not able to satisfy the requirement to make cheques payable to an existing mortgage lender to discharge the existing mortgage on a purchase transaction given that most closing funds are currently being delivered electronically directly into the trust account of the vendor’s lawyer.  Additionally, there seems to be some confusion about requirements regarding paying out and discharging private mortgages.

Document Registration Agreement

There seems to be general agreement that the current DRA, and the associated 3-party DRA, are in need of review and updating to remove some inconsistencies and reflect current practices including the exchange of closing documents at or shortly after closing. Ray Leclair (Lawyers Working Group and LawPro) has been working with FOLA on drafting proposed revisions.  Our goal is to see revised DRA’s which could be recommended to the bar for regular use.   

We are asking that each of you reply to this e-mail by forwarding a response on or before Nov. 9, 2020 to ehorner@hp-lawyers.com  saying “I would like to assist with the [DRA or Discharge Protocols] ” OR “I am not able to assist at the present time” OR “I have the following specific issue or comment”.

Your requested response will help with these reviews, and they will allow us to that we are reaching the right people in every association.

We’ve updated our Mortgage Discharges via Wire Transfer blog with Home Trust.