Land Owner Transparency Act
Tony Spagnuolo
other
Re: Land Owner Transparency Act
Good morning,
You are about to hear a lot more about the Land Owner Transparency Act (“LOTA”) and the Land Owner Transparency Register (“LOTR”) between now and Dec. 1, 2020.
LOTR is a registry of interests in land (shareholders, beneficial interest owner of a trust, partners in a partnership), which registry will be a searchable and public database. Whenever an interest in land is registered or created a transparency declaration must be filed so as to declare whether or not the transferee is a reporting body. Reporting bodies include corporations, a trustee of a trust or a partner of a relevant partnership. If the Buyer is a reporting body, it must disclose the following for each interest holder:
• Full name, date of birth, SIN, tax number, location of principal residence and last known address;
• Date on which one became or ceased to be an interest holder and the nature of the individuals interest in the reporting body;
• Canadian citizen or PR of Canada, or neither.
For most of our clients, who purchase properties in their personal names, this will not be an issue. For any clients who wish to purchase in the name of a company, trust or partnership, this will add time and cost to their purchase. If you have any such clients over the first week or two of December make sure they are aware of this.
As of now this will begin on Nov. 30, 2020, so expect a flood of information to your inbox the next few weeks. We will do our best to keep you informed as well. Both Dick Chan and I are attending a course on Thursday, and once we receive further relevant information we may do a video or two.
That’s it for now, no doubt more to follow shortly.
Tony Spagnuolo, Barrister & Solicitor
Spagnuolo & Company Lawyers
#300-906 Roderick Avenue
Coquitlam, BC V3K 1R1
Direct Phone: 604-777-7406
Fax: 604-527-8976