Ontario’s Bill 96: Electronic Real Estate Transactions

A private member's bill was recently introduced in the Ontario Legislative Assembly to amend the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 (Act) so it would apply to documents that create or transfer interests in land. Bill 96, the Electronic Commerce Amendment Act, 2012, is directed towards facilitating the use of electronic signatures in real estate transactions.

Proposed amendments

Bill 96, introduced on May 17, 2012, would:

• remove from the Act the present exclusion of documents, including agreements of purchase and sale, that create or transfer interests in land and require registration to be effective against third parties;
• make real estate transaction documents subject to the reliability requirements for electronic signatures set forth in subsection 11(3) of the Act; and