Appellant/Public User FAQs

Apart from meeting your appeal deadline, there is no technical limit to how long you can leave a draft unfinished.

Check the notice of decision that was issued by the municipality/approval authority – a case type is the subject of the application that is being considered (for example, zoning by-law amendment, minor variance, land severance, motion, etc.). If you don’t know the case type, you can check the case type chart on our website, which shows the different case types and their corresponding legislation and section number. In e-file, you can also search for the legislation and section number first, and the case type should auto-filter when you select the magnifying glass on the Case Type search field.

If there is no clear legislation listed for your matter, you can select the “Legislation not listed” checkbox, and a case coordinator will review your submission to advise of next steps. You will be prompted to identify the subject of your appeal on a later screen as you proceed through the appeal smart form.

You can only select one appeal type at a time (e.g., Zoning, Official Plan Amendment and Site Plan). We are working on a multi-selection option for a future release of e-file.

Check the notice of decision. The approval authorities listed in e-file should match the name of the authority listed in the notice of decision. Note that some approval authorities may have multiple offices listed in e-file, while other approval authorities may combine all of their offices using only one name. See, for example, Middlesex Centre (Municipality): Clerk & Secretary-Treasurer.

In the absence of a notice of decision, you may review the relevant legislation to confirm the appropriate approval authority with whom your appeal must be filed. 

Yes. A delay in payment does not hinder meeting an appeal deadline. However, once received by OLT staff, the appeal won’t be processed until payment is received. Please note that, if payment is required by legislation, failure to submit the required payment may result in your appeal being dismissed.

If you are having trouble completing the payment through CCPAY, please contact the OLT’s General Inquiry Line to report the issue. OLT staff will connect with support staff to address the issue. You could also select “Pay with Cheque/Pay Later” and continue to submit your appeal until you can sort out the payment issue.

For online payment transactions, e-file uses the Ontario Public Service payment service (CCPAY), which is subject to Multi-Factor Authentication. As such, you may be prompted by your financial institution to verify your identity, e.g., by using a One-Time Passcode sent to your mobile device or email address on file.

This extra layer of security provides:

• Protection of sensitive data by adding security beyond passwords.
• Lower risk of stolen credentials/fraud and identity theft prevention by confirming user authenticity.
• Compliance with regulations such as Ontario’s GO-ITS security standards, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which require strong safeguards for sensitive information.

This is not currently available within e-file. However, this is something we are considering for a future upgrade. You may contact the Ontario Land Tribunal to request a copy of the approval authority submission.

No. If you have edits or documents to add, please contact the approval authority directly at the contact indicated in their notice of decision. They should be able to add additional documents for you and add a note to your file if there are corrections that need to be made. Otherwise, you can discuss further with the Tribunal once your case has been opened. 

No. If you wish to withdraw a submitted appeal, please contact the approval authority by phone or email to notify them of your withdrawal. They will notify the Ontario Land Tribunal accordingly, and a refund will be issued if applicable. If you have been notified that an OLT Case Coordinator has been assigned to your case, then you can submit your withdrawal directly to the Case Coordinator.

No. Once you submit your appeal, you will receive an e-mail confirmation that your appeal has been filed with the municipality or other approval authority. The approval authority will then review your appeal and send it to the Tribunal. The Tribunal will issue an acknowledgement letter once your appeal is processed. Once processed, the Case Coordinator will be in contact with you. You can also use the Case Status Service to track the status of your appeal and case.

Yes. The PDF and HTML version of the appeal form is still available, e.g., to save on your hard drives, and can be submitted directly to the approval authority office using whichever methods are indicated on their notices, such as via mail or in person.

E-file meets all Ontario government standards for privacy and security. Online payment transactions on the Ontario Land Tribunal e-file portal are secured with Multi-Factor Authentication.

Yes. E-file will allow you to save drafts and return to them later. For multiple users from the firm to access drafts, users will have to share the same account (log-in and password).

Yes. There is an option to save the appeal draft before you submit the appeal. You can download a PDF copy of the draft appeal, which can be shared externally with the client, as needed.

By using e-file, this does not mean that the appellant is filing directly with the Ontario Land Tribunal. Rather, the appellant is selecting the appropriate approval authority within the e-file system, and the appeal is directed to that approval authority’s portal on e-file. OLT does not receive the appeal until it is forwarded via e-file by the approval authority (after packaging into a case package).