Manitoba Real Estate Lawyer Jason Bryk has returned to practise real estate and condominium law at Pitblado.  His new office will be 2500 - 360 Main Street, Winnipeg.

The Property Registry has launched a new Land Transfer Tax Calculator.   Buying a property in Manitoba ? Short of a few very narrow exceptions you will have to pay land transfer tax to complete the purchase. The new Land Transfer Tax Calculator will help you to understand how much money you will need to finalize your real estate purchase.  A link to the new calculator is here:  http://www.tprmb.ca/tpr/land_titles/lto_offices/fees.html 

The new The Condominium Act is now in force.  The new Act creates a vast new landscape for buyers, sellers, owners, developers, and condominium corporations in Manitoba.

Some highlights include:

For sellers, the cooling off period has been extended and you are now required to provide the purchaser an extensive package to commence the cooling period.

For buyers, you now have 7 days to review the documentation provided to you by the seller before you decided whether or not to purchase a condominium unit.  The package is extensive!

For owners, a change agreement may be able to assist you and the condominium corporation you belong to if a change to the common elements is required.

For developers, the requirements for registering a condominium declaration at land titles have been overhauled.  Is your lawyer ready?

For condominium corporations, keep in mind that your right to file a lien in the relevant land titles office may expire sooner than you think.

The new Condominium Act will be in force on February 1, 2015 and the Registrar General has now approved the new land titles forms to compliment The Condominium Act. 

Details on the new land titles forms may be found here:

  https://www.tprmb.ca/tpr/rg_directives/approval_forms_condo_act_20150126.pdf

The new forms included a revised Notice of Lien, Notice of Exercising Power of Sale, and the new Statutory Declarations for buyers and sellers of condominium units in Manitoba.

Manitoba real estate lawyer Jason Bryk has been appointed Deputy District Registrar for the Winnipeg Land Titles office by order of the Registrar General.  His new office is at 276 Portage Avenue! 

On July 1, 2014, The City of Winnipeg Charter will be amended. 

Once amended, the City must ensure that any subdivision approval of an application made by or on behalf of a developer is made subject to a condition that the developer enter into a written agreement with the school board under which the developer agrees to:

(a)  Convey land to the school board; or if the developer and the school board agree,

(b)  Pay money to the school board in lieu of conveying land.

To be considered a developer the proposed plan of subdivision will result in four or more parcels of land and be made subject to street dedication (i.e. it will have a public street).

In exercising its options the School Board must consider the suitability and location of the land as identified in its consultations with the council.  

The difficulty that I see is that council will likely require a developer to enter into either "a" or "b" with the School Board, or, obtain something in writing from the School Board stating the School Board is not interested in exercising its options; what could potentially happen, is the School Board could take money in lieu of conveying land even though they do not require the land as that money in lieu of conveying could increase funding. 

That being said The Public Schools Act states that such monies may only be used to acquire land for a school or to acquire school buses.

Winnipeg - Condominium units are taxes at a higher rate than single family detached homes - Why?  Is this fair?

The province appears to have take the position that the tax increase is justifiable as "market value" has removed the "inequity" and that increases in market value for condominiums means the status quo is fine.  Condominium unit owners may beg to differ.

See the latest updates on the campaign here:

http://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/property-tax-campaign/

I was recently involved in a transaction where I represented the purchaser of a parcel of land. In the normal course, the vendor’s lawyer prepared the Transfer of Land.

For this particular parcel, there was more than one registered owner and there was not enough room on Box 7 of the Transfer of Land for each of the registered owners to sign. The solicitor for the vendor took it upon himself to complete a Schedule which was then attached to the Transfer of Land and left Box 7 of the Transfer of Land blank. All of the registered owners signed the Schedule and the particulars of Box 7 were also replicated on that Schedule.

Once submitted for registration in the Winnipeg Land Titles Office, I received a call from the Winnipeg Land Titles Office that the Transfer of Land was going to be rejected. 

Given the large value of the parcel and the nature of the series registration, the problem Transfer of Land was submitted with (multiple Transfers of Land, a paper title, a deceased party, discharges of existing registrations, blanket mortgage in excess of $10million across residential, farm land, commercial and residential multi-family properties), the Transfer of Land was not rejected.

To correct the problem, the vendor's lawyer had a new Transfer of Land executed in which one of the registered owners who signed the schedule signed Box 7 and the original schedule was attached to that new Transfer of Land.

Therefore, when encountering a situation where there is not enough room on Box 7 of the Transfer of Land for each of the registered owners to sign, please ensure you replicate Box 7 on the approved form of Schedule and have one of the registered owners also sign Box 7.

The "rule" will also apply when registering a Mortgage.

In St. Charles Enterprises Ltd. et al v. The City of Winnipeg

2014 MBQB 100, the court declined to order that the St. Charles Hotel be delisted because the City failed to file a notice of historical building designation at the land titles office within the required statutory timeframe. The hotel was a validly designated building, at the request of its owner, for almost 25 years before the notice requirements came into force.

Section 157 says the City "must register" a historical building designation notice in the land titles office...within one year after the amendments came into force, for any building listed before then. The court found that the use of the word "must" in the section was meant to be directory not mandatory, and that the consequences of failure to comply should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, looking at such factors as the nature of the non-compliance and the resulting prejudice. In this case, the court found the non-compliance was minor and did not prejudice the owner. 

BILL 70 - The new rules will ultimately require listing online of all agents and any disciplinary findings against them, an upfront agreement about the agent's sales commission and fees; establishing a new code of conduct; establishing a stronger complaints and disciplinary process; and increasing the range of maximum fines to $100,000 for agents and $500,000 for brokerages.

Manitoba Real Estate Lawyer Jason Bryk along with the Associates of the Asper School of Business take a sneak peek of the Journey to Churchill at the Assiniboine Zoo, Winnipeg.

Investors Group has announced a 3-year mortgage rate at 1.99 percent! The summer real estate market is starting to heat up! Comparing monthly mortgage payments, the 1.99 percent could save you a tremendous amount of money!

Luxury 2000 square foot Condominiums are now for sale in downtown Winnipeg! The project is being marketed by Gary Bachman and Tom Hayward of Century 21. Another fabulous condominium project in downtown Winnipeg.

May 6, 2014, the Winnipeg Free Press announces Brian Bowman of Pitblado LLP will be running in Winnipeg's mayoral race. Good luck Brian! Read the full story here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Bowman-says-hes-best-mayoral-choice-to-move-forward-258152661.html

May 3, 2014, the Winnipeg Free Press announces it's newest Walmart will service the River Heights and Fort Rouge neighborhoods all the way to downtown! Read the full article here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/walmart-enters-grant-park-retail-fray-257773431.html

Lawyers throughout Winnipeg take part in the Habitat for Humanity Shed Build Challenge, Manitoba Real Estate Lawyer Jason Bryk captain's Pitbaldo's team. A great build for a great cause.

Yesterday the Winnipeg Sun announced a new outlet mall is coming to Winnipeg. The Outlet Collection of Winnipeg, which will feature 90 premium retailers on a 40-acre site at the Seasons of Tuxedo was also orally announced at the Winnipeg Real Estate Forum. See the full story here: http://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/04/29/winnipegs-first-pure-outlet-centre-to-open

Manitoba Finance announces plan to transfer the Property Registry Land Titles Office to Teranet Manitoba is now available online.

The transfer of the Property Registry to Teranet Manitoba was announced in December 2012.  Teranet has made a one-time payment and will pay annual royalties to the province in exchange for the exclusive licence to provide property registry services to Manitobans.

Is this a good deal for Manitoba?  Will land titles fees increase?  Will the integrity of the torrens system which our economy relies upon be maintained?

Highlights of the agreement include:

* Teranet will invest in new technology to ensure services such as titles, property searches and registrations will be available through a convenient, faster and secure online system;

* Manitoba will receive annual royalty payments estimated to be $11 million, increasing to $24 million at the end of the 30-year licensing agreement;

* increases in fees have been agreed upon so consumers will see stable and predictable changes and all existing Property Registry offices will remain open; and

* data used by Teranet, such as land survey and property titles, will continue to be owned by the province and protected by privacy legislation.


To view the government's document, visit www.gov.mb.ca/finance/pdf/teranet.pdf.

The Glasshouse April Newsletter reported today that Bockstael Construction of Manitoba has been awarded the contract to build Glasshouse Skylofts, Urban Capital’s new model of residential living for Winnipeg. Look forward to some changes in Winnipeg's skyline with the new skylofts! The $35 million Glasshouse building adds to the transformation that is taking place in the Downtown, and will leverage the synergies arising from the establishment of SHED (the Sports, Hospitality and Entertainment District) which includes the expanded RBC Convention Centre, the ALT Hotel, Centrepoint, the Met, and the updated cityplace

Winnipeg welcomes lenders from across Canada at Manitoba Hydro Place for the Winnipeg Real Estate Forum Chairman's Reception.