BCpropertycheck

How to Find Out Who Owns a Property in BC

The owner's name isn't on any free map, and it isn't on BC Assessment either. In British Columbia the registered owner of a property lives in one place: the provincial land title register. Here's the official route to the name (about $11 and ten minutes, no lawyer needed), plus the genuinely free searches and exactly what each one will and won't tell you.

Why you can't just look it up for free

BC's land title register — run by the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) — is the legal record of who owns every private parcel in the province. It's a public register, but it isn't a free one: viewing a title costs a small fee, which is how the system has worked for decades. BC Assessment's free lookup deliberately shows the property's assessed value without the owner's name, and no municipal map or provincial viewer publishes names either. So every "free BC property owner search" result you've clicked is either reselling the LTSA search at a markup or bluffing.

The official route: an LTSA title search (~$11)

The title search is the real answer, and it's simpler than it sounds:

  • Step 1 — get the parcel's PID. The PID (Parcel Identifier) is the nine-digit number every BC parcel carries, and it's free to find: enter the address in the free BC parcel map and the report shows the PID alongside the property lines, lot size, and zoning. (BC Assessment and ParcelMap BC also show it.)
  • Step 2 — create a free myLTSA Explorer account at ltsa.ca. Explorer is the pay-per-search tier for the public — no subscription, no minimum.
  • Step 3 — search by civic address or PID and order the title. An electronic title search costs about $11 all-in (the statutory fee plus LTSA's service charge and GST — roughly $10.89 at the April 2025 rates; check LTSA's current fee schedule). You get a PDF within minutes.
  • Step 4 — read it. The title shows the registered owner (or owners) in fee simple, how multiple owners hold the land — joint tenants or tenants in common, which matters for estates and separations — the legal description, and every registered charge: mortgages, easements, rights of way, covenants, liens, and judgments.

For the full anatomy of what comes back and what the extras cost, see the companion guide: BC title search — how to order one, what it costs, what it shows.

If the owner turns out to be a company or a trust

A large share of investment and development property in BC is registered to numbered companies, holding corporations, or trustees. The title gives you the corporate name — and then two free searches take you further:

  • The Land Owner Transparency Registry (LOTR) — BC's registry of the actual humans behind corporate, trust, and partnership ownership. Since April 2024, searching LOTR is free through the same myLTSA Explorer account. Search by PID or by name and you can see the registered interest holders behind the entity on title. It exists precisely so that "a numbered company owns it" is no longer the end of the trail.
  • BC Registries corporate search — for a BC company, a basic search on the corporate registry returns the directors and registered office.

What the free searches actually give you

  • BC Property Check parcel report — free. Property lines, lot size and dimensions, zoning where wired, ALR/floodplain/riparian/BC Hydro flags, and the PID you need for the LTSA search. No owner names — nothing free shows those.
  • BC Assessment (bcassessment.ca) — free. Assessed value, year built, and recent sales of comparables. No owner names.
  • LOTR — free. Beneficial owners where the registered owner is a corporation, trust, or partnership. Doesn't replace the title search for the registered owner itself.
  • LTSA title search — ~$11. The registered owner's name and every charge on title. This is the only official source for the name.

Common situations, honestly answered

  • "The house next door is empty and falling apart." Title search for the owner, and check the charges — a stack of liens or a certificate of pending litigation explains a lot. Your municipality's bylaw department will also act on unsightly or hazardous premises regardless of who owns it.
  • "I want to approach owners about selling." For a land assembly, pull titles for each parcel — at ~$11 each that's the cheapest due diligence in real estate. Check each lot's redevelopment potential first with the parcel report (zoning, Bill 44 unit floor, constraints) so you only spend on titles worth pursuing.
  • "There's a dispute about the fence / driveway." You likely need the boundary more than the name — see how to find your property lines in BC — and the title's charges section for any easement that explains the use. More in how to find easements on a BC property.
  • "Who owns a road, park, or Crown parcel?" Public land usually has no conventional title to search. Municipal roads belong to the municipality; provincial Crown land is administered by the Province.

The short version

Get the PID free from the parcel map, spend ~$11 on the LTSA title search for the name, and if a company or trust shows up, follow it through the free LOTR search. Total cost: about one coffee. Total time: about ten minutes.