18-Geom-B5 Survey Law · May 2014
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams — May 2014 — 04-Geom-B5 Survey Law. Three hours; CLOSED BOOK, NO CALCULATOR. Twelve questions constitute a complete paper (the first twelve as they appear are marked); most answers require sentence-and-paragraph format. All twelve questions are solved in full below. Content is framed in the Canadian common-law and Ontario land-registration context named by the source.
Reference texts: Survey Law in Canada (Canadian Council of Land Surveyors / Carswell, 1989); Brown, Robillard & Wilson, Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles (7th ed., Wiley, 2017); Ontario Land Surveyor educational materials and the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) Survey Review; the Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5, the Registry Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.20, the Surveys Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.30, and the Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19; Re Ellenborough Park, [1956] Ch. 131 (C.A.).
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
Under Ontario's Land Titles Act, when land is brought onto the title-registration (Torrens) system the Land Registrar assigns it a quality (or class) of title reflecting how completely the registered ownership is guaranteed. The principal qualities are:
Absolute title. The highest and most complete class. The register is conclusive proof that the registered owner holds the fee simple, subject only to registered encumbrances and the statutory exceptions (such as certain Crown rights, taxes, and unregistered short leases). The state guarantee is full, and a purchaser may rely on the register without looking behind it.
Qualified title. The same as absolute title except that the guarantee is subject to a specified reservation or defect — for example an estate, right, or interest arising before a stated date, or a particular unresolved matter noted on the register. Everything not covered by the qualification is guaranteed.
Possessory title. Guarantees only the owner's possession as of the date of first registration; it does not guarantee that no adverse interest existed before that date. It is granted where ownership rests on possession rather than a proven documentary chain, and may later be upgraded, on application, once the owner's title has been proven (for example after the statutory period of possession has run).
The same three grades exist for leasehold interests — absolute leasehold, qualified leasehold, and possessory leasehold title — together with good leasehold title, which guarantees the lease itself but not the lessor's right to grant it. In Ontario's automated conversion of registry parcels into land titles, most parcels were entered as Land Titles Conversion Qualified (LTCQ), a qualified class that preserves certain pre-conversion rights (adverse possession accrued before conversion, and specified Crown and public interests) while otherwise giving the security of land titles. In addition, an owner of an LTCQ (or absolute) parcel may apply to the Director of Titles to have it upgraded to Land Titles Absolute Plus: after the application evidence (typically including a current survey and notice to affected parties) is examined, the conversion qualifications — pre-registration possessory and boundary claims — are removed, giving the most complete guarantee the Ontario register offers.
It is important to contrast all of these with the older Registry (deeds) system, under which the office records instruments and assigns no guaranteed quality of title at all — the searcher must establish a good root of title from the chain of documents.
