Law Times

Law Times • November 10, 2014 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com NEWS New director of titles wants web-based Teraview by 2017 BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times eal estate lawyer Jef- frey Lem has big plans to smooth out some of the oddities in the land- titles system in his new role as Ontario's director of titles. One of his priorities is to create what he calls "Teraview 2.0" by 2017. The plan is to get the software real estate practi- tioners now use entirely online so they can do their work from any computer with Internet access. "We're a little bit behind the times in terms of software," says Lem, a columnist for Law Times who recently left Miller Thom- son LLP to take his new job with the provincial government. "In the old days, you have to buy software and install it on your machine to commu- nicate with another software. Nowadays, everything is cloud- based." While the current system has its advantages, such as a lower risk of hacking, Lem says the more boisterous security op- tions now available give him greater confidence. "Within the next few years, I'm going to bring my Ontario land titles system online as well, truly online," he says. "Right now, it's on the com- puter [and] you communicate on a dedicated software. But in the future, you can be in Ber- muda and as long as you can get onto the web, you can do a whole real estate deal from there." Lem's job is to run one of the biggest government databas- es in Ontario that houses the details of seven million prop- erties in the province. While moving the paper-based land registry system to automated land titles has been a success, Lem says there's still work to do on things such as the oc- casional unclaimed alleyways or oddly shaped lots that still dot the province. There are "36,000 of these suckers" out there, says Lem, who notes "it's my job to somehow figure them out. That's my big job as director of titles: how to bring those into the system." Part of Lem's plan to fix the oddities has to do with plans and maps. Surveyors draw their plans on comput- ers, he says, but if they have to submit them to the land titles system, they must print them before they can go into the gov- ernment's database. "That's just an old, odd throwback," says Lem. "It's a bizarre, odd glitch. On- tario's the only province in the country that still does it this way." There must be a way for the surveyors to submit their drawings electronically, Lem says. "That's another thing I'm trying to change." In his new role, Lem, who's also a Law Society of Upper Canada bencher, replaces former director of titles Kate Murray. He'll bring a new vi- sion to the position, accord- ing to real estate lawyer and fellow LSUC Bencher Alan Silverstein. "Kate Murray was there from the start; she blazed the trail; she was a pioneer. But I think Jeff was hired to provide two things: No. 1, to provide a new vision . . . and also because he's been a user, he'll be able to deal with the nuts and bolts issues," says Silverstein. "Kate did what she had to do and was the ideal person to do it," he adds. "Jeff now is taking the baton and moving it in a direction where it needs to be: cleaned up, fixed up, new ideas being brought to the surface because he has been a user." Silverstein says the new di- rector's initial goals make sense. Making Teranet easier to use and more "intuitive" is a good place to start, he notes. "It works well but it's not easy to use if you don't know how to use it," he says. "Some of the layout is horrible. Some of the wording is horrible." Lem says he has been receiv- ing many tips from the profes- sion. Silverstein's suggestions include extended title registra- tion hours. Robert Adourian, a real estate lawyer at Devry Smith Frank LLP, says Lem should also continue to check in with the real estate bar about how well the system is working. "It will be a good idea to have regular consultation with the users to see what their needs are," says Adourian. LT With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. 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(prices subject to change without notice) 2015 ONTARIO LAWYER'S PHONE BOOK THE MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS Untitled-3 1 2014-11-04 8:46 AM R Jeffrey Lem hopes to update the land-titles system in his new role.

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