PC-990033-1

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner received a complaint that information from Ontario's land registration system was being sold in bulk and for profit to commercial mortgage lenders by the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (the Ministry). Specifically, the complainant was concerned about the disclosure of information relating to mortgage renewal dates. The complainant thought that banks and other lending institutions were using this information to target consumers when their mortgage terms were about to expire. The complainant believed that this disclosure practice was an invasion of privacy and was contrary to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act).

After completing an investigation, I issued a report concerning this complaint (Investigation PC-980049-1). Some of the conclusions I reached were:

• The information in question was "personal information," as defined in section 2(1) of the Act.
  
  
• There was no basis to conclude that the Ministry disclosed this personal information in bulk to banks or any other lending institutions.
  
  
• The personal information contained in individual land registration records, either in paper, microfilm or electronic format, is maintained at the Land Registry Offices for the purposes of creating a record that is available to the general public, thus falling under section 37 of the Act. Accordingly, Part III of the Act did not apply to these individual records.

During the course of that investigation, the Ministry also confirmed that copies of microfilmed records, which contain a compilation of the individually registered documents, were being provided to the Ontario Property Assessment Corporation (OPAC). The Ministry argued that section 37 of the Act also applied to this disclosure.

• FIPPA
• Section 42
• 2(1)

• land registration records
• land registration records