Significant fee changes with ISC effective July 29, 2023

ISC has announced that they will be increasing their fees for land transfer and mortgage registration.  The release is here: ISC – July 29, 2023 Fee Adjustment Details – Breakdown

Some costs are increasing incrementally, some costs are new, and some changes in the formula of how fees get calculated.  I will have some clients that I have quoted for closings posts July 29, 2023 that I need to go back and revise the quote accordingly, as this is a material change in some cases.  This will be especially true in purchase transactions.  Higher value properties will see the largest increase in financed transactions.

Here are the changes:

• The transfer of titles increases from .3% of value to .4% of value of title. This means that a property valued at $300,000 would have a land titles transfer fee of $900.  It is now $1,200
• Mortgage registration costs used to be $180 for the first four titles, and $55 for next title after that. Now they have increased that fee based on the value of the mortgage being registered:
  • Values between $250,000 and $500,000 – $250 for first four titles, and $55 per title beyond
  • Values between $500,000.01 and $750,000 – $500 for first four titles, and $55 per title beyond
  • Values between $750,000.01 and $1,000,000 – $750 for first four titles, and $55 per title beyond
  • Values beyond $1,000,000 – $1000 for first four titles, and $55 per title beyond
• Mortgage discharges are now getting charged at $55 per full or partial discharge. Before they were free. 
• Detailed title searches and abstracts are now increasing from $12-$15.

Three examples of the price difference

• A purchase of a property at $250,000 with a $200,000 mortgage being registered against the property. Property has a surface parcel only.
  • An additional $250 for land transfer (total now increased from $750 to $1,000)
  • No change in mortgage registration (total $180)
  • An additional $9 for title searches (before transfer, after transfer and after discharge).
  • In total, an increase of $259 on that transaction. 
• A purchase at $600,000 with a $520,000 mortgage being registered against the property. Property has two surface parcels and two uncertified mineral titles.  Increases:
  • An additional $600 for land transfer (total now increased from $1,800 to $2,400)
  • An additional $320 for mortgage registration (total increased from $180 to $500)
  • An additional $36 for title searches (before transfer, after transfer and after discharge).
  • In total, an increase of $950 on that same deal.
• A sale with two surface parcel titles and two uncertified mineral titles, and a mortgage registered against each. We often have to search title before and after registration, and after discharge of the mortgage.  Four titles X one searches X $3 increase.  Plus the additional charge of $55 to discharge the mortgage – This results in an additional $67 ($12 plus $55) on this sale transaction.

If you have a purchase closing after July 29, you may want to confirm that the lawyer is aware of these changes, and that their quote reflects them.  I have reached out to ISC, and they have made the initial comment that if submitted for registration (versus registration completed) pre July 29, 2023 the old rates apply, but they need to still confirm that.

Things to watch out for as a mortgage broker – if they are registering a collateral charge on the property, the amount that they want to register for the value could materially impact the cost of the registration.  Often banks will want to register for the value of the purchase price, or more, even if lending less.