TitlePLUS Times
Vol 6. no. 2
May 2003

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Articles

You can now access titleplus.lawyerdonedeal.com to complete TitlePLUS purchase applications on the Web. We encourage you to visit the Web site and participate in this innovation.

If you have already signed a TitlePLUS Web Site Program and Subscription Amending Agreement or a TitlePLUS Subscription Agreement after February 2003, you should have access to the titleplus.lawyerdonedeal.com Web site, where you can commence your new policy applications. If you have not yet signed up, please contact us for the necessary Amending Agreement or download a copy from our Web site.

Please note that you must issue all outstanding TitlePLUS policies currently on your desktop software immediately. We will be phasing out the desktop software in Spring 2003 and once phased out, you will no longer be able to issue any of those outstanding policies. If you have an application in progress on the desktop with a closing date later than May 31, 2003, please contact us as soon as possible.

We also suggest that you do not upgrade to Teraview® 5.1 until all outstanding TitlePLUS policies are issued, as you will not be able to access them once you complete the upgrade.

New Confirmed Lenders
We are pleased to announce that the following lenders have become TitlePLUS Confirmed Lenders:
Provincial Alliance Credit Union Limited, Royal Trust Corporation of Canada, The Royal Trust Company, Sunshine Capital Corp., Westminister Mortgage Inc., Caisse populaire de New Liskeard, and Caisse populaire d'Earlton.
For a list of Confirmed Lenders, please Click here.

Water and Sewer Charges still a Lien on Land
After discussions with some lawyers, we recently reviewed the status of these charges and concluded that they still form a lien on the land, in the same manner as realty taxes.¹

Therefore, searches for arrears of water and sewage charges are still required for TitlePLUS purchase applications.²

Where the search is required, verbal or written responses are acceptable. If a supplier will not provide a response, you may obtain the most recent bill. This need not be receipted if it shows that previous bills were paid. Alternatively, you may obtain an unqualified Statutory Declaration by the vendor that all such charges have been paid to date, and that the status of payments is accurately set out in the Statement of Adjustments (if water and sewage charges are being adjusted).

How the Acknowledgment and Direction is Changing
We have updated the Acknowledgment and Direction and the Confirmation to Mortgage Lender as part of the TitlePLUS transition to the Web. The documents were revised primarily to address privacy issues based upon LAWPRO's Privacy Code and the federal privacy legislation that is to take effect next year. To view our Privacy Code, please Click here.

The Acknowledgment and Direction was also updated to change the format of the wording for multi-unit properties. Previously, if it was indicated that a property was multi-unit, lawyers were asked if the client wanted fire code, zoning and electrical work order clearances. If a purchaser did not want all three clearances, they would not get coverage for any, and a paragraph was included in the Acknowledgment and Direction confirming this. We have now updated the software, so that when dealing with multi-unit properties, the fire code, zoning and electrical work order clearances can be chosen as separate items. You can confirm the exclusion of coverage for each of them, separately, as applicable.

Referrals from TitlePLUS
We provide hundreds of referrals each month to consumers and others seeking TitlePLUS lawyers. These occur through our Web site as well as over the phone. If you do not wish to have your name given out by us to home buyers, agents or others, please notify us and we will remove your name from our referral list.

Tips from TitlePLUS

Accounting Features on the Web
The TitlePLUS Web programs have built-in accounting features, which allow you to keep track of unpaid TitlePLUS policy premiums and billed policies.

Unpaid TitlePLUS Web Policies
LAWPRO debits your bank account or charges your credit card for payment of the TitlePLUS policy premium, on the fifth business day of the next month following issuance. Please note that premiums are due once the policy has been issued. There are two ways for you to keep track of unpaid TitlePLUS policies:

1. Invoice: Once you issue a Web-based TitlePLUS policy, you have the option of printing an invoice. The invoice details the amount owing for the TitlePLUS premium, the names of the purchaser(s) or borrower(s), the lawyer's name, policy number, issue date, property address, policy amount, and name of the mortgage lender (if refinance transaction). Printing a copy of the invoice each time you issue a TitlePLUS policy will allow you to maintain the invoice for your accounting records. You can then reconcile the debits made to your bank account or credit card the month following issuance.
2. Accounting Feature: The accounting feature of the Web programs allows you to access an option entitled "Unpaid Policies to TitlePLUS," which will generate a list of TitlePLUS policies that have not yet been billed (i.e. LAWPRO has not debited your bank account or credit card for payment). Once LAWPRO has received payment for these policies, they will no longer appear on this list.

Payment Notification on your Bank Account Statements
TitlePLUS subscribers who pay for their premiums via bank account debit will now see "TitlePLUS Premium" on their bank statements and not "L.P.I.C Premium." Bank account debits for RealtiPLUS ActivityPLUS charges will now say "RealtiPLUS Payment". As the change could only be made for bank account debits, credit card charges will continue to appear on the subscriber's credit card statement as "L.P.I.C. Premium."

TitlePLUS
One Dundas Street West
Suite 2200, P.O. Box 75
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z3
Tel: 1-800-410-1013 or (416) 598-5899
Fax: 1-800-286-7639 or (416) 599-8341
E-mail: TitlePLUS@LAWPRO.ca
www.TitlePLUS.ca
www.LawyerMortgage.com
titleplus.lawyerdonedeal.com

¹ Subsection 1(1) of the Public Utilities Act, R.S.O. 1990, chapter P.52, still includes water and sewage charges in the definition of public utilities." Subsection 398(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, chapter 25, in effect January 1, 2003, provides that arrears of public utilities can be added to the tax roll. O.Reg. 440/02, under that Act provides that fees or charges imposed by a municipality or local board for the supply of water and sewage services, which have been added to the tax roll under Subsection 398(2) of the Act, have priority lien status.
² They are not, however, required for deals that fall under our New Home Program at LawyerDoneDeal.com.

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