What does a judgment, a certificate of pending litigation or a caveat on a BC title mean for a buyer?
Each is a claim registered against the land: it stays with the title until it's discharged, cancelled or lapses, so your lawyer or notary clears it at completion or the sale waits.
Opens the lot's report at this answer. If an address isn't found, try the PID, the 9-digit parcel number on the land title or assessment notice.
What the answer means
Each stays on the title until it's discharged, cancelled or lapses, and some stop the transfer from registering at all.
- Certificate of pending litigation
- A party to a court case claiming an interest in the land, or given a right of action about it by another law, may register a certificate of pending litigation against the title; so may a party to a family property case, someone suing under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, and someone enforcing a restrictive covenant or building scheme. The registrar mails a copy to the owner (Land Title Act s. 215).
- What a certificate stops
- Once one is registered, the registrar makes no entry charging or transferring the land until it's cancelled (s. 216 (1)). A transfer or mortgage can still register if it's expressed to be subject to the final outcome of the case, or the applicant elects that in writing, and then it stays bound by that outcome (s. 216 (2), (3)). An application received before the certificate goes ahead, subject to it in some cases (s. 217).
- Caveats
- A person claiming an interest under an unregistered instrument, by operation of law or otherwise may lodge a caveat with the registrar's leave, forbidding dealings with the land; an attorney or the Public Guardian and Trustee may lodge one to protect a person's land, and the registrar may lodge one to correct an error or prevent fraud (ss. 282, 285). The Supreme Court may also order that the land not be dealt with, and that order is lodged as a caveat (s. 284).
- What a caveat stops
- While it's in force, the registrar registers nothing affecting the land unless it's expressed to be subject to the caveator's claim, and deposits no subdivision plan or boundary change without the caveator's consent (s. 288).
- When a caveat ends
- A caveat lapses 2 months after it's lodged unless the caveator starts an action and registers a certificate of pending litigation; the owner can shorten that by serving notice, at least 21 days before the 2 months end, to withdraw or go to court, and it lapses 21 days after service unless the caveator sues (s. 293). The owner can also ask the Supreme Court to discharge it, the caveator can withdraw it, and a caveat lodged wrongfully and without reasonable cause makes the caveator liable for the damage (ss. 289, 290, 294). These limits don't apply to the registrar's own caveat (ss. 285 (3), 293 (3)).
- Registered judgments
- A court judgment entered or obtained in BC can be registered against the debtor's land, and from then it's a lien and charge on the debtor's interest as if the debtor had signed a mortgage for it; the creditor can proceed on it at once (Court Order Enforcement Act ss. 86 (2), (3), (6), 88). The registrar mails the owner a notice, and an owner who isn't the debtor named can say so and have it cancelled (s. 89).
- When a judgment ends
- A registered judgment stops being a charge 2 years after it was registered or last renewed, unless renewed before then; renewals can repeat (s. 91 (1), (2)). A judgment another law makes nonexpiring doesn't lapse (ss. 81, 91 (1)). Otherwise it's cleared by payment and a release (Land Title Act s. 214).
- What it means for a buyer
- These follow the land, not the seller: buy subject to one and you take the land with it. In most sales the buyer's lawyer or notary has a judgment paid out of the sale money and released, or the seller's lawyer undertakes to clear it, before the money changes hands; a certificate of pending litigation or a caveat usually can't be cleared that way, and the sale waits for the case or the caveat to end (our reading). Builders liens, mortgages and covenants are charges of their own: see their pages.
Our summary of the Land Title Act (RSBC 1996, c. 250, ss. 214 to 217 and Part 19, ss. 282 to 294) and the Court Order Enforcement Act (RSBC 1996, c. 78, ss. 81, 86, 88, 89, 91), read on BC Laws 2026-10-22. Each case turns on its own documents and the court: this isn't legal advice.
Sources (read 2026-10-22; summarised in our own words unless noted): Land Title Act, RSBC 1996, c. 250, Part 14 (ss. 214 to 217); Land Title Act, Part 19, Caveats (ss. 282 to 294); Court Order Enforcement Act, RSBC 1996, c. 78, Part 5 (ss. 81, 86, 88, 89, 91).
Before you buy: who to ask
- The seller or their agent
- Is there any lawsuit, judgment, family property claim or estate dispute that touches this land?
- Your lawyer or notary
- Does the title show a judgment, a certificate of pending litigation or a caveat? How will each be cleared at completion, and will the transfer register without waiting on a court case?
Look up the lot above: its report shows the rights of way drawn on it and the official records to search; the title itself comes from the Land Title and Survey Authority.
See also what title insurance covers, builders liens, covenants on a title, official records, subjects and the deposit and court-ordered sales.