Land registry office removing old documents

OLD AND NEW. Bill Towns, land registrar for Muskoka, shows old documents and the newer computerized land title documents at the Land Registry Office on Dominion Street in Bracebridge. Photo by Karen Longwell

BRACEBRIDGE — Those interested in looking at original historical land title records will find it much more difficult after this March.

The Bracebridge Land Registry Office is transferring paper land registry records accumulated since 1955 to the Ontario government’s record storage centre in Cooksville, Mississauga. The move to off-site storage will free up more space within the office and save on costs, said Alan Cairns, a spokesperson from the Ontario Ministry of Government Services.

It is anticipated that the transfer will be complete by March 2010, he said.

The loss of the paper documents is concerning to some residents.

Sid Aldred, who has been a legal conveyancer or land title searcher for more than 20 years, said it will be more difficult to look at actual land title documents for family history purposes.

Aldred said he is also concerned about the quality of the storage facility for the documents.

A whole range of people from celebrities, politicians and famous hockey players have owned property in Muskoka, he said. It is unfortunate that people won’t be able to see the original title documents with the signatures of those well-known people, he said.

“A lot of novel things are going to go by the wayside,” said Aldred.

The paper records have been either microfilmed or scanned and can still be accessed at the Land Registry Office by accessing the databases, said Cairns.

All documents with plans attached will continue to be retained in the Land Registry Office, he added.

Aldred claimed the microfilm is poor quality and difficult to read in some cases.

But Cairns said there is a quality check completed of all microfiched and scanned documents.

“If the microfiche is not legible, it may be as a result of the original paper document not being in good condition, especially aging paper,” he said. “Paper documents age, wither and disintegrate over time. Microfiche provides a permanent and consistent record.”

John Farr, a property title searcher and paralegal, said he has seen families come to the Land Registry Office and look at old documents to see when their relatives bought a property. The loss of the paper documents on-site will make it a different experience.

“They (the land title documents) won’t be as easily accessible anymore,” said Farr.

For many years now, land title searches have been available through a computer system and Farr said lawyers don’t need him as much for freelance conveyance work.

“I am outdated,” said Farr. “The computer has done it again.”

Farr said some lawyers still use his services for land title searches because they don’t trust the computer search system.

But at one time there were six freelance title searchers working at the Land Registry Office in Bracebridge, said Farr.

Aldred said the computer search will be wonderful in the future, but right now the system is going through growing pains.

It would be beneficial to have physical documents available to prove land title cases, he noted.

“Without those books and documents to go through, it can be very cumbersome for an individual or a solicitor to come in here and prove their case,” said Aldred.

Aldred also noted some documents are being thrown away.

“Some of the documentation, the government has the right to just throw it in a garbage bag and throw it right out,” said Aldred.

Cairns said none of the records at the Bracebridge Land Registry Office are being

thrown out, but land title documents, once filmed, can be destroyed after six months according to an agreed-upon records retention schedule.

All records are currently available either on film or by hard copy, he added.

The Archives of Ontario already has the pre-1955 documents, as they were transferred in the late 1990s, said Cairns.

Bracebridge’s older paper records are currently housed at the Record Storage Centre, now located at York University Keele Street campus in Toronto. The centre is managed and maintained by the Archivist of Ontario, he said.

The Ontario Land Registration system is responsible for the creation, maintenance and integrity of Ontario’s official records (e.g. mortgages, rights of way, leases, etc.) for approximately six million properties and the provision of public access to support determination of ownership and interests that affect land. The Land Registry Offices are managed by ServiceOntario, the public-facing arm of the Ontario Ministry of Government Services.