Whereas there are many instances throughout British Columbia where both private and public utilities have infrastructure located within private property and no associated statutory rights of way or easement was registered against title to the property in the Land Title Office at the time of installation many years ago; And whereas utilities are responsible for their infrastructure within private property because they are of benefit to the public and essential to the operation and maintenance of these critical services: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM ask the provincial government to work with local governments and the private utilities to develop legislation that would permit the registration of statutory rights of way or other instruments to resolve historic issues with unregistered statutory rights of way or easements for critical infrastructure located within private properties in an expeditious and cost-effective manner.
Ministry of Forests Unregistered infrastructure improvements are problematic for all the parties involved. Registration of an interest in land such as a statutory right of way SRW registration, is a fundamental concept of land title legislation as it involves a transfer of rights between the owner of the parcel and the entity wishing to obtain a portion of those rights and it usually involves some form of compensation to the owner who is relinquishing rights. When the Province is made aware of historical improvements on Crown land that would currently require registration, the Province takes action to remedy the situation such as registration of a SRW or similar tenure if the land owner is the Province. If the Province needs to ensure improvements are registered in the land title system and they are not the owner of the land, the Province would negotiate with the land ownerrights holder to enable registration. This occasionally includes providing compensation to the land ownerrights holder as a registration on fee simple property removes some level of land rights from the ownerrights holder and transfers it to the Province. Similarly, for local governments who identify unregistered historic infrastructure improvements on land not owned by the local government which require registration in the land title system, the local government is encouraged to negotiate with the land ownerrights holder to reach a solution. If this is unsuccessful, existing legislation, the Expropriation Act exists to enable resolution.