Title Insurance
Also known as: BC title insurance · Owner title policy · Lender title policy · FCT title insurance · Stewart Title insurance
A one-time-premium policy bought at closing that covers the owner, the lender, or both against loss from a title problem that pre-dates it. Title fraud, encroachments, survey errors and unresolved work orders are the usual claims.
Title insurance is an indemnity policy paid as a one-time premium at closing that protects the buyer (owner's policy) and/or lender (lender's policy) from financial loss caused by title defects discovered AFTER closing: fraud, undisclosed liens, unregistered easements, encroachments, survey errors, work orders, and zoning violations that pre-date the policy date. Typical BC residential cost: $300-$400 for the owner's policy plus $200-$300 for a lender's policy, both bundled into closing-day legal-fee statements. Title insurance is NOT statutorily required.
Ask what the lender title insurance is doing on your closing-cost statement. Most BC lenders now require lender title insurance INSTEAD of an updated Real Property Report on detached homes, which materially compresses closing timelines and saves $500-$1,500 on a survey, but transfers the risk of an undiscovered encroachment to the lender (covered) rather than to the owner (not covered, unless the owner buys the owner's policy). If you skip the owner's policy to save $300, you have no coverage for fraud, deed forgery, or post-closing-discovered encroachments. On any detached purchase, buy both.
Two leading providers in BC: First Canadian Title (FCT) and Stewart Title. Your lawyer or notary will quote both; rates are similar.
Related terms
- Real Property Report (RPR) — A surveyor drawing that shows where the legal boundaries actually run and where the buildings, fences and decks sit against them.
- BC Land Title Office (LTSA) — The BC land registration system operated by the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) under the Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c.
- Closing Day (Completion) — Closing day, or completion, is when the buyer's lawyer registers the title transfer at the BC Land Title Office and the money reaches the seller.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_title_insurance_overview,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{BC title insurance overview}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2000},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.title_insurance.overview},
urldate = {2026-08-02},
note = {Fact ID: bc.title_insurance.overview, version 1.}
}Job, B. (2000). BC title insurance overview. *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-08-02, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.title_insurance.overview
BC title insurance overview — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-08-02). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.title_insurance.overview
Fact id: bc.title_insurance.overview · v1 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.title_insurance.overview.json
Verified sources (2)· re-verified Aug 2, 2026Show sources
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BCFSAretrieved Aug 2, 2026Buying a Home — BCFSA consumer resourceshttps://www.bcfsa.ca/public-resources/real-estate/buying-home
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 2, 2026Buying and selling property in B.C.https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/real-estate-bc/buying-selling
bc.title_insurance.overview · v1View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "Title Insurance", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/title-insurance.
