On Jan. 1, 2022 amendments to the Ontario Planning Act were proclaimed. As a result of these amendments, a good number of unfortunate traps have been done away with.
A prominent feature of the Planning Act is that a conveyance in contravention of its subdivision control provisions is deemed to have no effect. This is true regardless of whether the contravention is a true affront to the planning principles that the Planning Act is intended to address, or if the contravention is simply a technical error with no true planning implications.
With these new provisions under the Planning Act, property owners (and their lawyers) are able to save themselves a great deal of time and expense – both in correcting technical contraventions, and in avoiding convoluted conveyancing practices that are no longer necessary.
We discuss some of these new amendments below:
- Abutting properties no longer merge on the death of a joint tenant
- Purchasers may now apply for consent
- In-progress consent applications can be amended
- Time to satisfy conditions extended to two years
- Certificates can now be cancelled
- Retained parcels are now more easily dealt with
- "Part of building or structure" exemption is expanded to ancillary areas
- Validation certificates
- Simplification re condominiums
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