Questions and Answers: Remote Witnessing During COVID-19
Remote Signing Update
The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) has posted answers to questions received during a live webinar. Below is a summary of the main topics covered along with our notes on how the LDD Remote Signing Portal can help you follow their practice guidance.
Preparing Affidavits and Documents
The documents listed in Practice Bulletin 01-20 are permitted to be submitted as true copies (plus s.49 affidavits and Strata Form Fs). If the documents are in the list for Form 17, then they’re acceptable for Declarations. If you’re client does not have a printer, you’ll need to make arrangements to courier the documents to them, as only wet signatures are accepted.
Procedures in Remote Witnessing
According to LTSA the procedure for Affidavits and Documents is as follows:
- You draft and send the affidavit and exhibits to your client, who prints it out.
- Once on video conference, the client reads the affidavit to you, letting you know when they’re turning pages.
- As you go through the pages together verbally, you each initial your respective versions of the affidavit.
- After the review, you administer the oath and watch the deponent sign the affidavit.
- The deponent sends you the affidavit that he/she has initialled and signed.
- You compare your initialled copy to the initialled and signed copy the deponent sent you. This is the step where you verify you both had the same version of the affidavit when you administered the oath.
- You apply your signature to the version of the affidavit the deponent sent you.
- You attach both copies of the affidavit to a declaration form for submission to the Land Title Office.
We have our corresponding procedure in our Remote Signing Protocol and checklist at the end of the document to help you stay on track.
Roles in Remote Witnessing
There’s the lawyer (conducting the remote signing process), the client and in some cases there can be a third person on the video conference to sign as a deponent. If there is another lawyer or notary available before whom to swear the Affidavit of Execution, then having a third person on the video conference with the client is unnecessary under s.49.
In addition, a family member of the client (who is already acquainted with the client and their signature) can swear the s.49 affidavit in a separate video conference if they were unable to attend the first one or you want to talk with your client alone.
It’s important to be acquainted with your client’s signature and ID before signing. You should have copies of the signature and front and back of the ID before the video conference. Meanwhile, their suggestion on signatures is:
…the transferor to send a copy of their signature that they’ve signed on camera, and sent to you while still on camera, before the transferor signs the actual Form A and sends it, in order to meet the straight face test. In this way, you would already be acquainted with the signature by the time the signed Form A is received.
We cover this in our Remote Signing Protocol, except we suggest you use a signature that you know is your client’s signature and have received in advance to compare against.
Part of the process requires proper remote signing language in documents specifying how the signatures were witnessed.
We’ve updated our document wording in RealtiWeb BC accordingly. All you need to do in our system is check the Remote Signing box and enter your location for where the affidavit was sworn (as many are working outside their normal office spaces).
Enduring Power of Attorney (EPOA)
Signing the document in the presence of two layperson witnesses is compliant as per Section 16(1) of the Power of Attorney Act. The process for confirming the Adult donor’s signature is the same as discussed earlier (in accordance with s.49 of the Land Title Act). Two differences in the remote witnessing process:
One witness to the Adult’s signature on the EPOA is required to swear a s.49 affidavit.
The Attorney’s signature does not need to be executed under Land Title Act Part 5, so a s.49 affidavit is not required to confirm the Attorney’s signature.
See the Practice Bulletin 02-11 Enduring Powers of Attorney for a suggested form of affidavit of witness, and use the Practice Bulletin 01-20 for remote swearing of the s.49 affidavit. Or you could refer to our Remote Signing Protocol to swear the s.49 affidavit.
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