It’s been said ‘land is the basis of all wealth', mainly because they stopped making it hundreds of millions of years ago.Anyone who has ever tried to buy a house — or sell one — knows the frustration of having to pull or file the required documents with the Land Titles Office needed to seal the deal. That’s because some $340 million a day in real estate transactions — some $50 billion per year — are processed through the Alberta Land Titles office.And that number is up more than 86% since the end of the pandemic in 2021 alone. In other words, it was drowning in red tape.Now the Alberta government is proclaiming success in reducing wait times and modernizing the process of transferring titles in response to a growing population and booming economy..“The successful elimination of a two-year backlog in land titles brings renewed economic growth and prosperity to the province,”Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally .On Monday, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said the government had effectively eliminated a two-year backlog of real estate transactions while streamlining and even eliminating unneeded bureaucracy.Land titles are vital for sectors like real estate, agriculture and resource development, as they ensure legal ownership and facilitate transactions. It manages almost half a trillion — $500 billion — of private assets.“The successful elimination of a two-year backlog in land titles brings renewed economic growth and prosperity to the province,” he said in a statement. “Through collaboration with employees and industry stakeholders, the land title registration process has been streamlined, resulting in a significant boost to the Alberta economy.”As part of the announcement, the government is sinking nearly $60 million over three years to hire staff and replace outdated filing systems. Many of those are paper-based and “ill-equipped” to respond to changing market conditions..The department, which has offices in Edmonton and Calgary, has begun accepting digital signatures on electronically filed documents, for example. The UCP government said it is hoping to cut processing times to an average of just five days for typical applications.By comparison, processing times peaked in December 2022, when Albertans were experiencing 84 days to process a transfer and register a title and 55 business days for filing land surveys. The improvements are partly expected to help address the housing crisis by shortening wait times for new homes as part of a broader effort to speed up approvals and cut red tape even further.“We want to commend Minister Nally and staff at the Land Titles office for the incredible progress made on addressing delays in land titles. By eliminating the backlog in the short term while committing to a modernized system in the long term, the Government of Alberta is supporting a reduction in red tape, costs and the unnecessary delays that have prevented Albertans from getting into homes,” said Scott Fash, the CEO of Building Industry and Land Development Association Alberta.
It’s been said ‘land is the basis of all wealth', mainly because they stopped making it hundreds of millions of years ago.Anyone who has ever tried to buy a house — or sell one — knows the frustration of having to pull or file the required documents with the Land Titles Office needed to seal the deal. That’s because some $340 million a day in real estate transactions — some $50 billion per year — are processed through the Alberta Land Titles office.And that number is up more than 86% since the end of the pandemic in 2021 alone. In other words, it was drowning in red tape.Now the Alberta government is proclaiming success in reducing wait times and modernizing the process of transferring titles in response to a growing population and booming economy..“The successful elimination of a two-year backlog in land titles brings renewed economic growth and prosperity to the province,”Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally .On Monday, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said the government had effectively eliminated a two-year backlog of real estate transactions while streamlining and even eliminating unneeded bureaucracy.Land titles are vital for sectors like real estate, agriculture and resource development, as they ensure legal ownership and facilitate transactions. It manages almost half a trillion — $500 billion — of private assets.“The successful elimination of a two-year backlog in land titles brings renewed economic growth and prosperity to the province,” he said in a statement. “Through collaboration with employees and industry stakeholders, the land title registration process has been streamlined, resulting in a significant boost to the Alberta economy.”As part of the announcement, the government is sinking nearly $60 million over three years to hire staff and replace outdated filing systems. Many of those are paper-based and “ill-equipped” to respond to changing market conditions..The department, which has offices in Edmonton and Calgary, has begun accepting digital signatures on electronically filed documents, for example. The UCP government said it is hoping to cut processing times to an average of just five days for typical applications.By comparison, processing times peaked in December 2022, when Albertans were experiencing 84 days to process a transfer and register a title and 55 business days for filing land surveys. The improvements are partly expected to help address the housing crisis by shortening wait times for new homes as part of a broader effort to speed up approvals and cut red tape even further.“We want to commend Minister Nally and staff at the Land Titles office for the incredible progress made on addressing delays in land titles. By eliminating the backlog in the short term while committing to a modernized system in the long term, the Government of Alberta is supporting a reduction in red tape, costs and the unnecessary delays that have prevented Albertans from getting into homes,” said Scott Fash, the CEO of Building Industry and Land Development Association Alberta.
