Alberta Land Titles Office Return Submission Pilot Impact on the Conveying Protocol

The Alberta Land Titles Office (LTO) is launching a Return Submission Pilot Project in an effort to resolve the significant backlog of registrations and delayed turnaround times for registrations. As of Sept. 26, 2022, the LTO will be removing deficient packages enclosing Transfers of Land and Transfers of Land with a Mortgage before they are entered into the queue and returning them to the sender for correction. Information regarding the Return Submission Pilot Project can be found here. 

The Law Society and Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (ALIA) have received inquiries about the potential impact of the Return Submission Pilot Project on the Western Law Societies’ Conveyancing Protocol (Alberta) (Protocol). Based on information received to date, the Law Society and ALIA have confirmed that lawyers may continue to close real estate transactions using the Protocol.

Lawyers must continue to take all steps required to meet current conveyancing practice standards and the standards of a prudent real estate practitioner. If lawyers meet such standards and comply with the requirements of the Protocol, any claims will continue to be dealt with under the Protocol. However, as is currently the case, if a document is rejected by the LTO, it may be due to a mistake that could take a claim outside of the Protocol.

If a claim is taken outside of the Protocol, it will be assessed in the normal course as a claim arising from the lawyer’s negligence and will be subject to deductibles and surcharges, in accordance with ALIA’s current Group Policy. In such circumstances, ALIA will continue to indemnify a negligent lawyer pursuant to the Group Policy.

The Law Society and ALIA will continue to review the effect of the Return Submission Pilot Project on the Protocol and will communicate any amendments that may be required to reflect new LTO processes.

Reminder: Register for the Well-Being in Practice Summit

We would like to invite all Alberta lawyers and students-at-law to Well-Being in Practice: A summit on taking care of yourself, your workplace and your profession.

The Law Society of Alberta, Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society (Assist), the Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (ALIA) and the Canadian Bar Association — Alberta Branch are partnering to host this virtual summit.

Our speakers include lawyers willing to share their own mental health experiences as well as mental health professionals providing education, concrete tools and resources to take away from the Summit.

Well-Being in Practice will be held over two half days:

• Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, noon – 4:15 p.m. 
• Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Registration for this event is free to all Alberta lawyers and students-at-law. This event is open to the first 1,000 registrants, so we encourage you to register now.

To register or learn more about the event, review the agenda and visit our registration page.

Please note that a Zoom account is required to register for this event. If you do not have a Zoom account, sign-up is free and available here.

If you are unable to attend the virtual Summit, we encourage you to still register for the Zoom event. Registrants will receive a link to the recorded version and other materials following the Summit.