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Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations

made under Section 90 of the

Mortgage Regulation Act

S.N.S. 2012, c. 11

N.S. Reg. 120/2020 (effective November 1, 2021)

amended to N.S. Reg. 148/2024 (effective September 1, 2024)



Table of Contents


Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.
Click here to go to the text of the regulations.

 

Citation

Definitions

Persons exempt from Act

Conditions for exempting persons doing simple referrals

Exemption from mortgage administrator requirements

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker or administrator

Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage lender



 


Citation

1        These regulations may be cited as the Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations.


Definitions

2        In these regulations,

 

“Act” means the Mortgage Regulation Act;

 

“Community Business Development Corporation” means a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and publicly funded in part through the Government of Canada’s Community Futures Program to provide business loans and foster economic development in rural Nova Scotia;

 

“mortgage professional” means a mortgage lender, mortgage brokerage, mortgage broker, associate mortgage broker or mortgage administrator;

 

“syndicated mortgage” means a mortgage in which 2 or more persons participate, directly or indirectly, as a lender in a debt obligation that is secured by a mortgage.


Persons exempt from Act

3        All of the following persons are exempted under subsection 3(1) of the Act from the application of the Act:

 

                   (a)      a bank or an authorized foreign bank, as defined in the Bank Act (Canada);

 

                   (b)     a body corporate to which the Trust and Loan Companies Act (Canada) applies;

 

                   (c)      a retail association as defined in the Cooperative Credit Associations Act (Canada);

 

                   (d)     a company as defined in the Insurance Companies Act (Canada);

 

                   (da)    a Community Business Development Corporation;

 

                   (e)      a director, officer, employee or other representative of a person that is exempted under clauses (a) to (da), when acting solely on behalf of the person;

 

                   (f)      a person that undertakes mortgage brokerage or lender activities, but only if each mortgage related to those activities meets all of the following conditions:

 

                              (i)      the mortgage loan is for an amount greater than $1 000 000,

 

                              (ii)     the Cost of Borrowing Disclosure Regulations made under the Act do not apply to the mortgage loan,

 

                              (iii)    1 of the following applies:

 

                                        (A)   none of the investors in the mortgage is a private investor,

 

                                        (B)   1 or more of the investors in the mortgage are private investors, and a person that is exempted from the Act under clauses (a) to (e) or by Section 5 brokers the mortgage on behalf of each private investor;

 

                   (g)     a person that refers prospective borrowers to mortgage professionals and meets the conditions of Section 4;

 

                   (h)     a person that refers mortgage professionals to prospective borrowers and meets the conditions of Section 4;

 

                   (i)      a person that undertakes activities in relation to a syndicated mortgage that are regulated under the Securities Act.


Conditions for exempting persons doing simple referrals

4        All of the following are the conditions required to be met for a person that makes referrals to be exempted under clause 3(g) or (h):

 

                   (a)      the person informs the prospective borrower in writing of all of the following before making a referral for which the person has received or may receive a fee or other remuneration, directly or indirectly:

 

                              (i)      the amount of the fee or other remuneration or, if the amount of the fee or other remuneration is not ascertainable at that time, a reasonable estimate of the fee or other remuneration,

 

                              (ii)     if the remuneration is in a form other than money, the nature of the remuneration,

 

                              (iii)    the nature of the relationship between the person and the mortgage professional;

 

                   (b)     in referring a prospective borrower to a mortgage professional, the only information that the person provides to the prospective borrower, in addition to the information required by clause (a), is the name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address or website address of the mortgage professional or an individual who acts on behalf of the mortgage professional;

 

                   (c)      in referring a mortgage professional to a prospective borrower,

 

                              (i)      the only information that the person provides to the mortgage professional is the name, address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address or website address of the prospective borrower or an individual who acts on behalf of the prospective borrower, and

 

                              (ii)     the person obtains the written consent of the prospective borrower to give the information referred to in subclause (i) to the mortgage professional.


Exemption from mortgage administrator requirements

5        (1)    The Central as defined in the Credit Union Act and a credit union to which the Credit Union Act applies are exempted from the mortgage administrator requirements of the Act and regulations while acting as a mortgage administrator on behalf of an investor that meets any of the following:

 

                   (a)      the investor is exempted under clauses 3(a) to (c);

 

                   (b)     the investor is a credit union established under the laws of a province of Canada;

 

                   (c)      the investor is an entity owned or controlled, in whole or in part, by a person to whom clause (a) or (b) applies.

 

          (2)    A director, officer, employee or other representative of a person that is exempted under subsection (1) is exempted from the mortgage administrator requirements of the Act and regulations when acting solely on behalf of that person.


Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker

6        (1)    Subject to subsection (2), a person who is a director, officer, employee or other representative of a credit union to which the Credit Union Act applies is exempted from the requirement to hold a licence to act as a mortgage broker while acting as a mortgage broker on behalf of a person that meets all of the following:

 

                   (a)      the person is exempted under clauses 3(a) to (c);

 

                   (b)     the person is owned, controlled or affiliated with the credit union.

 

          (2)    A person is exempted under subsection (1) only if the person meets all of the following:

 

                   (a)      the person is acting in its professional capacity on behalf of a client;

 

                   (b)     the person is not holding themself out as being a mortgage broker.


Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage broker or administrator

7        (1)    Subject to subsection (2), all of the following persons are exempted from the requirement to hold a licence to act as a mortgage broker or mortgage administrator:

 

                   (a)      a practising lawyer as defined in the Legal Profession Act, but only while engaged in an activity that they are insured for under their professional liability insurance;

 

                   (b)     a trustee in bankruptcy;

 

                   (c)      a person acting under an order of the Court;

 

                   (d)     a person acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada or another province of Canada, but only if the person is not otherwise required to be licensed.

 

          (2)    A person is exempted under subsection (1) only if the person meets all of the following:

 

                   (a)      the person is acting in its professional capacity on behalf of a client;

 

                   (b)     the person is not holding itself out as being a mortgage broker or administrator.


Exemption from requirement for licence to act as mortgage lender

8        A person to which any of the following applies is exempted from the requirement to hold a licence to act as a mortgage lender and is exempted from Section 25 of the Act respecting designating compliance officers:

 

                   (a)      in any period of 12 consecutive months, the person lends its own money on the security of 4 or fewer mortgages with an aggregate amount of not more than $1 000 000, and the person does not hold itself out as being a mortgage lender;

 

                   (b)     the person is a director, officer, employee or other representative of a person that is exempted under clause (a), and is acting solely on behalf of the person.


 

 


 

Legislative History
Reference Tables

Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations

N.S. Reg. 120/2020

Mortgage Regulation Act

Note:  The information in these tables does not form part of the regulations and is compiled by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations for reference only.

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Mortgage Regulation Act Exemption Regulations made under the Mortgage Regulation Act includes all of the following regulations:

N.S.
Regulation

In force
date*

How in force

Royal Gazette
Part II Issue

120/2020

Nov 1, 2021

date specified (date that Act comes into force on proclamation)

Oct 9, 2020

216/2022

Nov 1, 2022

date specified

Oct 7, 2022

148/2024

Sept 1, 2024

date specified

Aug 9, 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following regulations are not yet in force and are not included in the current consolidation:

N.S.
Regulation

In force
date*

How in force

Royal Gazette
Part II Issue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision

ad. = added
am. = amended

fc. = fee change
ra. = reassigned

rep. = repealed
rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision affected

How affected

2, defn. of “Community Business Development Corporation”...........

ad. 148/2024

3(da)................................................

ad. 148/2024

3(e)..................................................

am. 148/2024

3(f)(ii)..............................................

am. 216/2022

 

 

Note that changes to headings are not included in the above table.

Editorial Notes and Corrections

 

Note

Effective
date

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repealed and Superseded

N.S.
Regulation

Title

In force
date

Repealed
date

 

 

 

 

Note:  Only regulations that are specifically repealed and replaced appear in this table.  It may not reflect the entire history of regulations on this subject matter.