BCpropertycheck

BC Title Search: How to Order One, What It Costs, What It Shows

A BC title search costs about $11, takes ten minutes online, and returns the single most information-dense document in BC real estate: who owns the property, exactly how they hold it, and every mortgage, easement, lien, and covenant registered against it. Here's how to order one, what's actually free along the way, and how to read what comes back.

What a title search is

British Columbia runs a Torrens land title system: the provincial register kept by the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) doesn't just record ownership — it legally defines it. If you're on title, you own it; if a charge is on title, it binds the land. That's why a title search is the definitive check, not one source among many. "Searching a title" means ordering the current registered title for a parcel and reading it.

What it shows

  • The registered owner(s) — full legal names, and for multiple owners whether they hold as joint tenants (survivor takes all) or tenants in common (shares pass through each estate). This distinction decides estates, separations, and co-ownership disputes.
  • The legal description and PID — the lot/plan description that surveys and contracts hang off.
  • Charges, liens, and interests — the section that pays for the search: mortgages, easements, statutory rights of way (BC Hydro corridors live here — see what a Hydro line on your property means), restrictive covenants, builders liens, judgments, and certificates of pending litigation. Each entry shows the charge type, registration number, and holder.
  • Transfers and pending applications — whether a sale or new charge is mid-registration.

One thing it does not include: the full text of each charge. The title lists an easement's number and holder, but the easement's actual terms — where it runs, what it permits — live in the charge document, which is a separate small purchase per document. For the easement-specific route, see how to find easements on a BC property.

What it costs (and what's free)

  • Free: finding the PID and seeing the parcel itself — boundary, dimensions, zoning, constraint flags — via the free BC parcel map. Also free: BC Assessment's value lookup, and since April 2024 the Land Owner Transparency Registry search (beneficial owners behind corporate and trust ownership).
  • ~$11: the electronic title search itself — statutory fee plus LTSA's service charge and GST (about $10.89 at April 2025 rates; LTSA adjusts fees each April, so check their fee page).
  • A few dollars more per document: copies of individual charge documents (an easement, a covenant) or the registered survey plan.
  • More again: a state of title certificate — see below.

Anyone selling a "free BC title search" is reselling this ~$11 product with margin or delivering less than the title.

How to order one, step by step

  • 1. Get the parcel's PID free: enter the address in the parcel report and copy the nine-digit PID it resolves.
  • 2. Create a free myLTSA Explorer account at ltsa.ca — the pay-per-use public tier; no subscription.
  • 3. Search by civic address or PID, confirm the parcel, and pay by card. The title arrives as a PDF in minutes.
  • 4. Read the charges section line by line. Anything you don't recognize — an easement you didn't know about, a lien from a stranger — is worth the extra few dollars to pull the underlying document.

What is a state of title certificate?

A state of title certificate (STC) is the certified version of the same information: an official LTSA-issued certificate of the title as of the moment it's produced. Courts, some lenders, and some government processes require the certified form rather than an ordinary search printout. It costs more than a plain search and takes a little longer. Practical rule: for due diligence, curiosity, and negotiation, the ~$11 search is what you want; order an STC only when a lawyer, lender, or court asks for one by name.

When a title search is the right move

  • Before writing an offer — your conveyancer will search anyway, but reading the charges yourself early is how you find the right-of-way through the backyard before you're emotionally committed.
  • Before a land assembly approach — ~$11 per parcel tells you who to talk to and how encumbered each lot is. Screen the parcels' development math first with the free report so you only pull titles that pencil.
  • Tax sales and court-ordered sales — where the charge stack is the deal. Liens and judgments that survive or don't survive the sale decide everything.
  • Finding an owner — the title is the official source of the name; the full route (including corporate owners and the free LOTR follow-up) is in how to find out who owns a property in BC.
  • Boundary and use disputes — pair the title's easements with the actual parcel lines (how to see your BC property lines free).

The short version

PID free from the parcel map → free myLTSA Explorer account → ~$11 electronic title search → read the charges → spend a few dollars more only on the charge documents that matter. Certified state of title certificate only if someone official demands it.