ePlans Reference Guide

Introduction

The introduction of Electronic Plan submission (ePlans) in Teraview will be phased, beginning with land titles reference plans of survey that describe land already included in the automated land registration system (i.e. has a PIN).  If any part of the plan of survey includes land that does not have a PIN, it must be submitted in hardcopy format. Plans including land in both land titles and registry must also be submitted in hardcopy.

Legislation:  https://www.teraview.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bulletin-ePlans-Regulations-final-clean-1.pdf

To submit plans through direct electronic transmission, a surveyor must obtain a Teraview licence (https://www.teraview.ca/en/teraview-account-management/) and must receive authorization from the Director of Land Registration for electronic registration of documents.

Before electronically submitting a land titles reference plan for deposit, a portable document format (PDF) file of the draft plan must be pre-approved using the process set out in the Customer Guidelines for Plan Pre-approval for Digital Submissions.  These guidelines are available on request through PlanSubmissions@ontario.ca.  Pre-approval is mandatory for ePlans.  Note that plans pre-approved in a hard-copy or ePlan format cannot be deposited in different format.   Should the decision be made to change the plan format following pre-approval, the plan must be re-submitted in the new format.

All ePlans submitted through Teraview must be in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). PDFs of survey plans can be created from most of the drafting software commonly used by land surveyors. This is done through a print-to-PDF option or by choosing Adobe PDF as your printer. Some drafting software packages can create PDFs without using Adobe Acrobat software and these PDF’s are also acceptable. Surveyors are encouraged to use standard fonts so that the final version of the plan remains an exact copy of the original PDF.

A new document type, Application – Deposit Plan, is now available in Teraview and is used to deposit a reference plan that was prepared in accordance with Part XIII of Ontario Regulation 43/96 under the Registry Act.

The Land Registration Reform Act—Electronic Registration Regulation and Ontario Regulation 43/96 set out the information that an Application – Deposit Plan and an Application – Register Plan must contain. A licenced professional Ontario land surveyor is required to sign this new document type for completeness.

The electronic plan deposit is a two-step process whereby a surveyor will prepare and register an Application Deposit Plan for a Reference Plan.

Once pre-approved, a PDF version of the draft plan is imported into the application by the surveyor and becomes the deposited plan after Land Registry Office staff have processed the Application.

If the Electronic Land Registration System, “ELRS”, does not recognize the font used in the PDF that is submitted, the software may substitute text with a default font. This could affect the appearance and legibility of the plan.

  1. Must be generated directly from drafting software (not from a scanned paper or Mylar print-out)
  2. No Corrections or changes can be made directly to the PDF image after it is created by the drafting software. The ELRS will not recognize changes to the PDF after it is produced from the drafting software. If changes to the plan are required a new PDF must be created from the drafting software.
  3. The PDF Plan must be produced at the intended plot size. The intended plot size means the intended overall physical dimensions of a plan, including a 15 mm plan margin, when a plan is printed at the scale at which the plan was drawn.
  4. Include the following notation, below the scale bar: The intended plot size of this plan is __mm in width by __mm in height when plotted at a scale of 1:__.  This statement advises the end user the size that the plan should be printed
  5. Cannot exceed 915 mm by 1,500 mm or be less than 216 mm by 356 mm, regardless of orientation, when printed at the intended plot size. NOTE:  The ELRS system confirms these sizes to exact measurements.  The best practice is to make the plans slightly smaller than the maximum and slightly larger than the minimum;
  6. Depict all features in black on a white background;
  7. Have a straight margin line placed 15 mm inside and parallel to the outside edge of the electronic plan;
  8. Include a blank space in the upper right corner for the certificate of deposit in the prescribed size being 110 mm high by 85 mm wide.

A best practice is to create several ready to use plan templates at the most common plan sizes and scales.  Having these plan templates ready to go with the plan size, intended plot size and scale already included correctly on the plan speeds up the process of plan preparation.

Suggested template sizes include:

A size – 216 mm by 356 mm

B size – 280 mm by 430 mm

C size – 430 mm by 560 mm

D size – 560 mm by 860 mm

E size – 860 mm by 1120 mm

Maximum – 915 mm by 1500 mm

NOTE:  The ELRS system confirms these sizes to exact measurements.  The best practice is to make the plans slightly smaller than the maximum and slightly larger than the minimum;

Note that Plans submitted in electronic form will not include an AOLS plan submission form (sticker). The AOLS sticker is replaced with a statement placed in a prominent location below the Surveyor’s Certificate. In the form:

“This plan of survey related to AOLS Plan Submission Form Number (insert number).”

The form number is required for deposit but is not required for pre-approval.

No Dealings Indicator

A No Dealings Indicator (NDI) can be activated manually or by the registration of certain document types, which are referred to as blocking documents.

During creation and registration of the Application—Deposit Plan, the NDI warning may appear if it was activated  however this indicator will not prevent document creation or registration.   The warning advises that an identified property is currently subject to no dealings.

Land Registrar’s Investigation

A Land Registrar’s Investigation (LRI) can be activated manually or by registration of a Land Registrar’s Caution or Director of Titles Caution.  When an LRI is activated through a Caution, the PIN can be searched, and documents can be created in Teraview, but all registrations are prevented.

When a manual LRI is activated for a PIN by land registry office staff, documents may be created in Teraview, but searching the PIN and registration on the PIN are prevented.

If you encounter a parcel with an LRI, please consult with Land Registry Office staff.

System Limits

An electronic document cannot affect more than 500 properties because there are system limits.

If a reference plan affects part of the common elements of a condominium that is comprised of more than 500 units, the reference plan must be in a non-electronic format.

In order to ensure the success of your submission, listed below are known error messages for PDF attachments:

  • If the attachment is not a PDF  Unable to Import, selected file is not a PDF
  • If the PDF restricts printing Unable to Import, PDF has a printing permission setting
  • If the PDF is low resolution Unable to Import, PDF has a low resolution setting
  • If the PDF is password protected Unable to Import, PDF has a password protection setting
  • If the file size exceeds size limits Total amount of attachment exceeds size limit
  • If the PDF is rotated Unable to Import, image has an invalid rotation setting
  • If the PDF contains negative coordinates Unable to Import, selected file was created with negative coordinates
  • If the paper size exceeds / falls short of the limits PDF file paper size is too large to import, size may not exceed 915mm x 1500mm / PDF file paper size is too small to import, size must be greater than 216 X 356 mm
  • If the page size and display/print settings have different dimensions Unable to Import, PDF page size and display/print settings must have the same dimensions