A Certificate of Pending Litigation, usually shortened to a CPL, is a formal notice registered against a property’s title when someone has started a lawsuit claiming an actual interest in that specific land, not just a debt the owner owes them. It doesn’t automatically stop a home from being listed, but it clouds title in a way that makes selling or financing the property very difficult until it’s resolved, since a buyer’s lawyer and lender will both flag it during a title search. A CPL usually turns up mid-transaction from a source that has nothing to do with the current owner’s marketing of the property, a family or estate dispute, an old contract disagreement, sometimes a claim the owner considers meritless. This guide covers what a CPL actually is, why one gets registered, what it does to a sale, and how it gets resolved. For everything else a Toronto transaction involves, see our complete Toronto real estate guide.
What a Certificate of Pending Litigation actually is
A CPL is a specific court document, Form 42A under Rule 42 of Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure, read together with section 103 of the Courts of Justice Act. A registrar issues one only under a court order, not simply because a claimant asks for it or files a lawsuit. To get one, a claimant has to show they’re advancing a genuine claim to an interest in the land itself, a share of ownership, a constructive trust, a right under an existing agreement, rather than a general claim that the owner owes them money. Once issued, it gets registered on the property’s title in the land registry system, where it stays visible to anyone who searches the title, including a buyer’s lawyer, a lender, and a title insurer, until it’s discharged.
Why one would exist on a property that isn’t obviously in dispute
A CPL rarely has anything to do with how a property looks or how its current owner has treated it. The common triggers are personal and legal rather than physical: a family or estate dispute where a property was supposed to form part of an inheritance and a beneficiary disagrees with how it’s being handled, a breakdown between co-owners or joint-venture partners, a claim that a property was fraudulently transferred away from someone with a real interest in it, a dispute over an existing Agreement of Purchase and Sale, or, in family law, a spouse seeking to preserve a matrimonial home while an equalization claim is worked out. None of this means the underlying claim is strong. It means someone has gone to court and satisfied a judge there’s a real, land-specific interest at stake while the dispute plays out.
What a CPL actually does to a sale
It doesn’t prevent a property from being listed, and it doesn’t, by itself, void an existing agreement of purchase and sale. What it does is show up on every title search from the moment it’s registered, and in practice that’s enough to stop a sale from closing: a buyer’s lawyer won’t recommend completing a purchase with an unresolved CPL on title, and a lender won’t advance mortgage funds against a property whose ownership is actively in dispute. The property is effectively frozen for the purposes of selling or refinancing, not because the law forbids the transaction outright, but because nobody with money at stake will proceed until the certificate is cleared. That’s a meaningful difference from an outright legal block, but the practical result for a seller trying to close on a timeline is close to the same thing.
How a CPL gets removed or resolved
A CPL is discharged one of a few ways. The underlying lawsuit can settle or conclude, at which point the certificate is removed because the claim behind it no longer exists. A judge can order it discharged directly, including under section 103(6) of the Courts of Justice Act, on grounds that include the claimant not actually having a reasonable claim to an interest in the land, not pursuing the case with reasonable diligence, or the claimant’s interest being adequately protected some other way. And a property owner who successfully has a wrongly registered CPL discharged can seek damages under the same section against whoever registered it without a reasonable claim. None of this happens automatically or quickly; it runs through the same court that would hear the underlying lawsuit, with its own motion, evidence, and scheduling.
How this differs from adverse possession or an encroachment
A CPL, an adverse possession claim, and a property line encroachment can all surface during a title search and all sound similar when someone first describes them, but they’re genuinely different mechanisms. An encroachment is physical, a structure crossing a boundary, with no legal claim attached in most cases. Adverse possession is a claim to ownership built on years of specific, qualifying possession, almost entirely closed off in Ontario today by the province’s conversion to Land Titles. A CPL is neither: it’s a court-ordered notice tied to an active lawsuit, filed by someone who says they already have an interest in the property under an existing legal or family relationship, not someone claiming to have earned ownership through possession. Our guide to title insurance in Ontario covers what a standard policy protects against more broadly; a CPL tied to a pre-existing, undisclosed claim is the kind of title defect that coverage is meant to respond to, though it doesn’t remove an active, known CPL from a property you’re already trying to close on.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Certificate of Pending Litigation?
A Certificate of Pending Litigation, or CPL, is a court document, Form 42A under Rule 42 of Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure, registered against a property’s title when a lawsuit claims a genuine interest in that specific piece of land. A court registrar issues it only under a court order, not automatically when someone files a claim, and the claimant has to show more than a general debt owed to them; they have to be asserting an actual interest in the property itself. Once registered, it stays visible on the title to anyone who searches it, including a buyer’s lawyer and a lender, until it’s formally discharged.
Why would a Certificate of Pending Litigation exist on a property that seems fine?
Most CPLs have nothing to do with the physical property or how its current owner has treated it. Common triggers include a family or estate dispute over an inherited property, a disagreement between co-owners or joint-venture partners, a claim that ownership was fraudulently transferred, a dispute tied to an existing agreement of purchase and sale, or a spousal claim to preserve a matrimonial home during a family law proceeding. Its existence reflects that a court found a genuine, land-specific claim at stake while the underlying dispute is resolved, not that the claim has already been proven or will ultimately succeed.
Does a Certificate of Pending Litigation stop a house from being sold?
Not automatically or by law, but in practice, yes for most buyers. A CPL doesn’t prevent a property from being listed and doesn’t void an existing agreement on its own, but it appears on every title search once registered, and a buyer’s lawyer and lender will both flag it. Most buyers’ lawyers won’t recommend closing with an unresolved CPL on title, and most lenders won’t advance mortgage funds against a property whose ownership is actively disputed. The practical effect is that the sale is frozen until the certificate is discharged, even though nothing in the law technically forbids listing or agreeing to sell the property.
How do you get a Certificate of Pending Litigation removed?
It’s discharged when the underlying lawsuit settles or concludes, when a court orders it discharged directly, including on the grounds set out in section 103(6) of the Courts of Justice Act, such as the claimant lacking a genuine interest in the land or not pursuing the case diligently, or through a successful motion showing it was registered without a reasonable basis. None of these routes are fast or automatic; they run through the same court handling the underlying dispute. A property owner who has a wrongly registered CPL discharged can also seek damages against whoever registered it under the same section of the Act.
What should a buyer do if a title search reveals a Certificate of Pending Litigation?
Bring it to a real estate lawyer immediately, before advancing any further with the purchase. A lawyer can review what the underlying lawsuit is actually claiming, how far along it is, and whether there’s a realistic path to a discharge before your own closing date. This isn’t a situation to work around informally, negotiate directly with the other litigant, or assume will resolve itself; a CPL reflects an active court proceeding with its own timeline, and proceeding to close without understanding it puts your deposit and your financing at real risk.
What should a seller do if they discover a Certificate of Pending Litigation on their own property?
Get a real estate lawyer involved right away to understand what the underlying claim actually alleges and what it will take to resolve or discharge it, since this is a legal process, not something a listing description or a conversation with the other party can fix on its own. Depending on the claim, that might mean settling with the claimant, contesting the claim in court, or bringing a motion to have the CPL discharged as improperly registered. Get in touch with our team once the legal side is underway to talk through timing and next steps for the property itself, though the legal resolution has to come first.
A Certificate of Pending Litigation is a real estate lawyer’s issue to assess and the court’s process to resolve, not something a buyer or seller works through alone or informally. This guide explains the general mechanics; it doesn’t resolve any individual reader’s situation. Get in touch with our team once you understand where things stand legally, and see the rest of our guides for what else a Toronto transaction involves, including our guides to adverse possession and property line encroachment for two other title issues that can surface the same way.