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Land Registry Records
The Registry system and the Land Titles system differ in that the former is a registry of documents and the latter is a register of titles. The Registry System is governed by the Registry Act which was one of the first statutes passed by the Legislature of Ontario. It provided that all dealings with land be registered in order to provide notice of their registration to the public. Unregistered interests have no effect against registered ones.

The Land Titles Act was originally enacted in 1885. All unpatented lands in northern Ontario came under the Act and each of the districts has a Land Registry Office under both the Registry Act and the Land Titles Act.

The registered documents are evidence supporting the titles. This has much improved the previous system of searching a chain of ownership for 40 years in order to register a change in ownership or title. Now, the latest document registered is proof of title and no historic type search is required. You will come cross these terms and should be aware of the differences.

Each county had its own Land Registry Office and most were one of the first buildings constructed in the county. This was the place where each transaction made on a property was recorded. Such things as mortgages, mortgage discharges, wills, purchases, some marriage registers, debentures for schools, cemetery board startups, organizational bylaws, almost everything that was of any importance to the individual and community was registered or deposited in the Land Registry Offices in Ontario.

Abstract Index Book and Deeds
All dealings with the land subsequent to the Crown patent are recorded in the Abstract Book in the order of their registration. These books contains a page for each piece of property that had been surveyed. As the property changed hands, was mortgaged, had the mortgage paid off, or was part of an estate in a will, etc., it was recorded on its own page in the order that the events took place. Line after line tells the story of the individual piece of land. In order to get all the details of the transactions one must retrieve a deed or document by noting the instrument number shown beside the entry and requesting the document. This document can then be studied and the contents read. The full names of all those with an interest in the land, buyer and seller alike, as well as the amount of the sale price and any other stipulations are some of the things shown on the actual “Bargain and Sale” as well as other pertinent information.

Original documents on deposit have all been microfilmed and can be accessed at the appropriate Land Registry Office. Some of the original documents or old copy books have been sent to the Archives of Ontario for safe keeping and some have been distributed to other local archives and associations that have pledged their trust to care and maintain them.

You can see the microfilmed copies at the Registry Office for your particular county of interest. (You can also photocopy any that you may wish to own and I would strongly suggest you do so. This way, you will always have a copy to refer back to at a later date if any question should arise.)

There were additional Abstract Books created with the incorporation of towns to handle the lands within the town boundaries. As subdivisions started, a plan was registered to show the division of the land into lots, and a book was started with a page for each lot in the plan.

Prior to the subdivision of lands, the abstract books are referred to as concessions books and after subdivision, plan books. Searching in the concession book is commonly referred to as “going behind the plan.”

At the top of each page the lot and plan number or the concession and lot number are recorded. Instruments ruled out in red (or black if you are looking at microfilm) indicate that a mortgage has been discharged. There is usually a number and date and initial beside the lined out entry to indicate when this occurred. If you find this ruled out entry you will not be able to obtain the document involved as it no longer is required to be in the registry office.

The abstract books have been microfilmed for nearly every township in nineteenth century Ontario, and copy books of deeds up to the mid-1870s; they are in the RG 61 collection of the Archives of Ontario. Some of these are also available at county archives. Ask at your local Land Registry Office.

Land Registry Offices A - D
ALGOMALand Registry Office (Bilingual) 420 Queen Street East Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario P6A 1Z7 Telephone: 705-253-8887

BRANT Land Registry Office Court House 80 Wellington Street Brantford, Ontario N3T 2L9 Telephone: 519-752-8321

BRUCE Land Registry Office 203 Cayley Street P.O. Box 1690 Walkerton, Ontario N0G 2V0 Telephone: 519-881-2259

COCHRANE Land Registry Office 149 - 4th Avenue (Court House) P.O. Box 580 Cochrane, Ontario P0L 1C0 Telephone: 705-272-5791

DUFFERIN Land Registry Office 41 Broadway Ave., Unit 7 Orangeville, Ontario L9W 1J7 Telephone: 519-941-1481

DUNDAS Land Registry Office 8 - 5th Street West P.O. Box 645 Morrisburg, Ontario K0C 1X0 Telephone: 613-543-2583

DURHAM Land Registry Office 590 Rossland Road East Whitby, Ontario L1N 9G5 Telephone: 905-665-4007

Land Registry Offices E - G
ELGIN Land Registry Office 1010 Talbot Street, Unit 36 St. Thomas, Ontario N5P 4N2 Telephone: 519-631-3015

ESSEX Land Registry Office 949 McDougall St., Suite 100 Windsor, Ontario N9A 1L9 Telephone: 519-971-9980

FRONTENAC Land Registry Office 1201 Division Street Kingston, Ontario K7K 6X4 Telephone: 613-548-6767

GLENGARRY Land Registry Office 101 Main Street North P.O. Box 668 Alexandria, Ontario K0C 1A0 Telephone: 613-525-1315

GRENVILLE Land Registry Office 499 Centre Street P.O. Box 1660 Prescott, Ontario K0E 1T0 Telephone: 613-925-3177

GREY Land Registry Office 1555 - 16th Street East, Suites 1 and 2 Owen Sound, Ontario N4K 5N3 Telephone: 519-376-1637

Land Registry Offices H - K
HALDIMAND Land Registry Office 10 Echo Street West P.O. Box 310 Cayuga, Ontario N0A 1E0 Telephone: 905-772-3531

HALIBURTON Land Registry Office 12 Newcastle Street P.O. Box 270 Minden, Ontario K0M 2K0 Telephone: 705-286-1391

HALTON Land Registry Office 2800 Highpoint Drive, 2nd Floor Milton, Ontario L9T 6P4 Telephone: 905-864-3500

HASTINGS Land Registry Office 199 Front Street, Suite 109 Century Place Belleville, Ontario K8N 5H5 Tel: 613-968-4597

HURON Land Registry Office 38 North Street Goderich, Ontario N7A 2T4 Telephone: 519-524-9562

KENORA Land Registry Office 220 Main Street South Kenora, Ontario P9N 1T2 Telephone: 807-468-2794

KENT Land Registry Office 40 William Street North Chatham, Ontario N7M 4L2 Telephone: 519-352-5520

Land Registry Offices L - N
LAMBTON Land Registry Office Court House 700 Christina Street North, Suite 102 Sarnia, Ontario N7V 3C2 Telephone: 519-337-2393

LANARK Land Registry Office 2 Industrial Drive P.O. Box 1180 Almonte, Ontario K0A 1A0 Telephone: 613-256-1577

LEEDS Land Registry Office 7 King St. West Brockville, Ontario K6V 3P7 Telephone: 613-345-5751

LENNOX Land Registry Office 7 Snow Road, Unit 2 Napanee, Ontario K7R OA2 Telephone: 613-354-3751

MANITOULIN Land Registry Office 27 Phipps Street P.O. Box 619 Gore Bay, Ontario P0P 1H0 Telephone: 705-282-2442

MIDDLESEX Land Registry Office 80 Dundas Street, Ground Floor London, Ontario N6A 5B6 Telephone: 519-675-7600

MUSKOKA Land Registry Office 15 Dominion Street Bracebridge, Ontario P1L 2E7 Telephone: 705-645-4415

NIAGARA NORTH and SOUTH Land Registry Office 59 Church Street St. Catharines, Ontario L2R 3C3 Telephone: 905-684-6351

NIPISSING Land Registry Office Court House 360 Plouffe Street North Bay, Ontario P1B 9L5 Telephone: 705-474-2270

NORFOLK Land Registry Office Court House 50 Frederick Hobson VC Drive, Suite 201 Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 4K8 Telephone: 519-426-2216

NORTHUMBERLAND Land Registry Office 1005 Elgin St. West, Suite 105 Cobourg, Ontario K9A 5J4 Telephone: 905-372-3813

Land Registry Offices O - P
OTTAWA-CARLTON Land Registry Office Court House 161 Elgin Street, 4th Floor Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2K1 Telephone: 613-239-1230

OXFORD Land Registry Office 480 Peel Street Woodstock, Ontario N4S 1K2 Telephone: 519-537-6287

PARRY SOUND Land Registry Office 28 Miller Street Parry Sound, Ontario P2A 1T1 Telephone: 705-746-5816

PEEL Land Registry Office 1 Gateway Blvd. Brampton, Ontario L6T 0G3 Telephone: 905-874-4008

PERTH Land Registry Office 5 Huron Street Stratford, Ontario N5A 5S4 Telephone: 519-271-3343

PETERBOROUGH Land Registry Office 300 Water St., 1st Floor, North Tower P.O. Box 7000 Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5 Telephone: 705-755-1342

PRESCOTT Land Registry Office 179 Main Street East Hawkesbury, Ontario K6A 1A1 Telephone: 613-636-0314

Land Registry Offices R - T
PRINCE EDWARD Land Registry Office 1 Pitt Street P.O. Box 1310 Picton, Ontario K0K 2T0 Telephone: 613-476-3219

RAINY RIVER Land Registry Office 353 Church Street Fort Frances, Ontario P9A 1C9 Telephone: 807-274-5451

RENFREW Land Registry Office 400 Pembroke Street East Pembroke, Ontario K8A 3K8 Telephone: 613-732-8331

RUSSELL Land Registry Office 3 - 717 Notre Dame Street Embrun, Ontario K0A 1W1 Telephone: 613-443-7852

SIMCOE Land Registry Office Court House 114 Worsley Street Barrie, Ontario L4M 1M1 Telephone: 705-725-7232

STORMONT Land Registry Office 720 - 14th Street West, Unit 2 Cornwall, Ontario K6J 5T9 Telephone: 613-932-4522

SUDBURY Land Registry Office 199 Larch Street, Suite 300 Sudbury, Ontario P3E 5P9 Telephone: 705-564-4300

Land Registry Offices V - Y
THUNDER BAY Land Registry Office 189 Red River Road, Suite 201 Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 1A2 Telephone: 807-343-7436

TIMISKAMING Land Registry Office 375 Main Street P.O. Box 159 Haileybury, Ontario P0J 1K0 Telephone: 705-672-3332

TORONTO Land Registry Office 20 Dundas Street West, Suite 420 Toronto, Ontario M5G 2C2 Telephone: 416-314-4400

VICTORIA Land Registry Office Provincial Court Building 322 Kent Street West Lindsay, Ontario K9V 4T7 Telephone: 705-324-4912

WATERLOO Land Registry Office 30 Duke Street West, 2nd Floor Kitchener, Ontario N2H 3W5 Telephone: 519-571-6043

WELLINGTON Land Registry Office 1 Stone Road West Guelph, Ontario N1G 4Y2 Telephone: 519-826-3372

WENTWORTH Land Registry Office 119 King Street West, 4th Floor Hamilton, Ontario L8P 4Y7 Telephone: 905-521-7561

YORK REGION Land Registry Office 50 Bloomington Road West, 3rd Floor Aurora, Ontario L4G 0L8 Telephone: 905-713-7798

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