Counsel who practice construction law in Ontario have their hands full these days in keeping up with the changes introduced through the recent introduction of the Construction Act. The “learning curve” associated with this new statute will continue for the foreseeable future, particularly when the new adjudication and prompt payment rules take effect on October 1, 2019. While these fundamental changes are rightly occupying much attention, a recent incident which came to light with a faulty registration in Teraview of an Order vacating a construction lien demonstrates that changes made in 2016 to the electronic registration regime are also still subject to a “learning curve”.
The situation was routine; a subcontractor had registered a construction lien and the contractor needed to “bond it off” quickly so the next draw could be paid without delay and long before the subcontractor was required to register a certificate of action. The master signed an order vacating the registration of the subcontractor’s lien upon the contractor’s posting of a lien bond in the requisite amount. No action had been started yet, so there was no certificate of action. A perfectly ordinary situation, but things went wrong when it came time to register this routine order in Teraview.
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