E-file Registration: Municipalities and Other Approval Authorities
Register as an authorized e-file service provider to:
- Serve public more effectively (e-file is fast and secure)
- Easily and quickly group appeals together to send to the Ontario Land Tribunal
- Use a generated checklist to ensure you have included all required documents in your submission
How to Sign Up
1. Update your notices of decision or other communications to include the following information:
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- information on how to file an appeal and pay the appeal fee through e-file
- an email that can be used if the e-file portal is down
- a date and a time for the expiry of the period for appeals to be filed (e.g., “December 13 at 4:30 p.m.”, not just “December 13”)
- instructions for payment of any municipal administrative fees (if applicable)[1]
- Note: notices should continue to include any information that is currently required to be included in a notice of decision (such as in O. Reg. 545/06 for notices for Zoning By-Laws)
2. Identify how your approval authority will be listed in e-file. The name must match the filing entity name that is cited in your notices so that users can be sure that they are filing in accordance with legislation and with the correct entity.
- Do not use a specific person’s name. Names should refer to a role or entity. For example:
- Municipal Clerk
- Secretary-Treasurer
- Committee of Adjustment
- Consent Authority
- For municipalities, please list the municipal name first (rather than “City of” or “Town of “) so that if a user scrolls through the list, they will see the list alphabetically sorted by municipal name. For examples, please see the list of registered municipalities/approval authorities on the main e-file webpage
- If your municipality or organization has separate staff who deal with different types of appeals, consider whether to have:
1. one portal in e-file that is shared for different types of appeals (e.g., “Mississauga (City) – Clerk and Secretary-Treasurer”); or
2. separate portals in e-file for each of your entities, for example:
a) one portal for: “Mississauga (City) – Clerk”
b) a second portal for: “Mississauga (City) – Secretary-Treasurer”
- Please note that each staff member’s email address can only be connected to one e-file portal at a time, and they will only receive email notifications for appeals submitted to that portal.
- If there are staff (e.g., legal counsel) that will need to see both Clerk appeals and Secretary Treasurer appeals, for example, it is better to combine these into one portal in e-file (option 1 above).
- Alternatively, the Clerk appeals and the Secretary Treasurer appeals can be directed to two separate portals and can each be managed with distinct logins that are used by each staff group:
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- A user in e-file would see two distinct options in e-file: both options 2(a) and 2(b) above.
- Each portal would require a separate registration request and updated notices from both the Clerk’s office and the Secretary-Treasurer’s office.
- This makes sense if you have two distinct staff groups that monitor these appeals separately. Otherwise, it is best to have one portal to monitor.
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3.Identify who in your organization will be the primary contact(s)/administrator(s) (level-1) for your approval authority entry (or entries) in e-file.
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- An approval authority can have more than one level-1 administrator.
- The level-1 administrator(s) have to be approved by the Ontario Land Tribunal.
- Once registered, level-1 administrators are responsible for granting access to other staff in their office (level-2 users) as needed. There is no limit to the number of users an approval authority can have.
Note: both level-1 administrator(s) and level-2 users will receive notification emails when an appeal is submitted through e-file to your approval authority.
4. Complete the E-file Registration Form (HTML | Word) as a level-1 administrator and submit to
olt_efile_Admin@ontario.ca along with sample copies/templates of your updated notices/communications.
5. We will notify you by email when we have approved your request, and provide you with a time-sensitive link to
the administrator registration page in e-file.
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- Upon receipt of this email, your approval authority portal is now activated, and appellants will be able to submit appeals to you through e-file.
- You are advised to complete the next steps as soon as you receive the email with the registration link to avoid missing any potential appeals.
- As part of this registration process, administrators will need to create a My Ontario account (Government of Ontario online service) to authorize and authenticate access to the service.
- To create your My Ontario account, you will provide your name, email and phone number and click the Update button.
- If you need help with accessing or creating a My Ontario Account, consult the My Ontario help page.
- Next you will be prompted to complete the Approval Authority Administrator (Level 1) Registration Form. Once completed, click the Submit Registration Request button.
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6. Once you have completed the registration page, your request is sent via e-file back to OLT for verification. You
will receive a confirmation email within 2-3 business days granting you administrator access to log in and begin
using e-file.
[1] Municipalities are entitled to charge administrative fees pursuant to s. 69 of the Planning Act or s. 391 of the Municipal Act.
