Lag in Alberta land title transfers hits 4 months

Long delays in transferring land titles continue to frustrate people involved in real estate transactions in Alberta. 

Service Alberta told CBC News in May it was working to implement solutions to the backlog by the summer and expected wait times would decrease.

However, since the spring, the delay has stretched from about three months to four.

As of Thursday, according to the province's website, the land titles office was registering land title documents received on June 22 and survey plans and documents received on Aug. 12.

The delays are affecting people buying and selling properties, industries involved in those transactions, and municipalities' tax departments.

"We would like it to be faster but our hands are tied," said Paul Gravelle, chair of the Realtors Association of Edmonton.

Carl Bösecke, a partner at Bösecke Law in Edmonton, said his firm often handles deals for people flipping homes. Those clients end up reselling homes before the title is registered in their names, he said.

"It becomes really complicated for new lenders to track all of the transactions that are not registered and then we spend a lot of time with title insurance companies, trying to explain to the people in Ontario why we're having so many problems in Alberta," he said.

Bösecke said in some cases, lenders have backed out of loans because of the delays. In one case, that cost one of his clients about $200,000.

Lawyers are recommending their clients buy title insurance to mitigate delays.

Lawyers collect money upon closing, but are not allowed to bill and deposit the funds into their own bank accounts until the title registration occurs, so title transfer delays have caused a cash flow problem for some.

In a news bulletin in August, the Law Society of Alberta said it had received several inquiries from real estate lawyers facing financial pressures due to delays in collecting fees on real estate transactions. 

Anton Szabo, director of policy and data quality with the City of Edmonton's assessment and taxation branch, said because of the land title delays, some supplemental assessment and tax notices have been sent to the owners on file instead of to the new buyers.

Szabo said the city sent out more notices and has asked real estate agents, home builders, lawyers and banks to pass on information to clients who recently bought property.