Land Registry News

A Message from the New Land Registrar

Since joining the Land Registry on 28th May, the question I have been asked most often is: "How do you pronounce your name?". I'm afraid it isn't easy, but it helps if you think of it in two parts. The first part, SAL, means 'willow'. The second, KELD, means 'stream'. The name comes from the north of England, on the edge of the Lake District, where there are three villages called Great Salkeld, Little Salkeld and Salkeld Dykes. These villages are not recorded in the Domesday Book - the first major record of land holdings in England made in 1086 - since the area was under dispute between England and Scotland. However, by 1200, the Salkeld family was clearly one of the major English landowners on the western side of the border region.

My task is to see through that process of change and ensure that our objectives are met. I'm happy to find a strong team and a strong sense of purpose already in place within the registry.

There is still a lot of careful preparation, good training and hard work to be done. But, I'm confident that over the next few years we can provide for Hong Kong a registry that is staffed with the best trained, most courteous and most efficient service team, using the most up-to-date and user friendly systems to deliver our services. Above all, we will maintain public trust in the register. The confidence that families, businesses and banks can have in the register is the foundation for many of the economic activities that underpin our city. Maintaining that confidence is our most important service.

K A SALKELD, J.P. The Land Registrar & General Manager The Land Registry Trading Fund, Hong Kong

Update : Information Systems Strategic Plan Implementation

The tender for the development of the Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) was gazetted in late January 2001. During the 3-month tendering period, we arranged a series of review sessions of computer system documents and on-site surveys of daily operation for the prospective tenderers to give them a thorough understanding of our requirements. An encouraging number of proposals was submitted before the tender closing on 20 April 2001.

We have established a tender evaluation panel to oversee the tender selection process and started the tender evaluation exercise. With reference to the assessment criteria and marking scheme endorsed by the Central Tender Board, our IT experts and operation managers are scrutinizing the technical solutions, hardware and equipment, service level and personnel proposed by the tenderers. To ensure the viability of their proposals, the tenderers are also required to provide a series of system demonstrations and benchmark tests. We plan to complete the evaluation process in the 4th quarter of 2001 and the IRIS contract is expected to be awarded before the year end.

During the development and implementation of IRIS, co-operation and assistance from customers will help us to achieve a seamless transition. At a later stage of system development, we may invite customers to participate in rehearsals simulating real-life operations to obtain their feedback.

Update : Colour Imaging of Plans

The tender notice for the colour imaging of plan service, gazetted on 22 September 2000, was closed on 3 November 2000. Several tender proposals were received. The tenderers were requested to conduct demonstration and benchmark tests. Tender evaluation was completed and the evaluation report would be sent to the Central Tender Board for approval.
The tender is expected to be awarded in the third quarter of 2001 and to commence operation in the first quarter of 2002. Incoming plans will be scanned and stored electronically in colour and the existing plans will be converted into colour electronic images. The target is to complete the conversion of all the existing plans within 6 months after the commencement of service.

Customers will benefit from the introduction of the colour imaging of plan service. The quality of copies of colour plans will be enhanced as they will be retrieved from electronic storage media and produced automatically by printers.

Update : DAS Enhancement - Cross District Collection of Block Government Leases (Whole Set) and Certified Land Registers

The Direct Access Services (DAS) has been enhanced to allow cross district collection of orders for copies of Block Government Leases (whole set) and certified land registers. With effect from 18 June 2001, DAS subscribers can choose to collect remote orders for copies of Block Government Leases (whole set) and certified land registers at the counters of Central Search Office or any New Territories Land Registries. However, requests for copies of partial Block Government Leases and register cards will continue to be handled by the relevant Urban or New Territories Land Registries.

Land Registration (Amendment) Bill

The Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council on 17 January 2001. The proposals in the Bill are to amend the Land Registration Ordinance and Regulations to allow the Central Registration System to be implemented, to provide for colour imaging of plans and to introduce improvements in registration practice.

A Bills Committee was formed to study the Bill. While consideration was not completed before the summer recess, Government hopes to secure enactment of the Bill early in the coming session.

Land Titles Bill

Following on from comments made during the last round of discussions on the draft bill the administration is now giving further consideration to three issues. First is whether some form of guarantee of land boundaries can be given along with guarantee of title. Second is whether as a matter of principle there should be no limit on indemnity, and what the effect of this would be in terms of costs on transactions. Third is the conversion process where we are examining parallel running of the existing deeds register together with a titles register. We aim to set out revised proposals on these points for further discussion with interested parties before submitting a revised bill to the Legislative Council in the coming session.

Search of Bulk Properties Located in Various Areas / Districts

Under the Land Registration Regulations, the Land Registrar shall, upon request by any person and upon payment of the fees prescribed under the Land Registration Fees Regulations, make available to such person as soon as practicable records of the Land Registry.

As a matter of fact, the Land Registry has from time to time processed urgent requests for bulk search within a short time span. For instance, in late February 2001, the Central Search Office supplied computerized land registers in respect of 6,134 Urban and New Territories properties to a solicitors firm within 4 working days.

How does the Central Search Office cope with bulk requests on top of the regular land search requests? The answer is : teamwork, flexibility and commitment to meet customer needs and to public service! In the case mentioned above, we began work at 8:00 a.m. and worked through lunch for 4 consecutive days.

Of course, the public can always get even better service from us. How? Well, we appeal to all customers, particularly solicitors firms and search companies, to give us advance notice of impending urgent requests for bulk search so that we can do our best to meet their time schedule. The Land Registry is there to meet our customers' expectation for a better and more efficient public service at no extra cost.

Symposium cum Exhibition on Continuous Learning and Development in the Civil Service

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Customers are key stakeholders of Land Registry's services. It is therefore crucial for us to understand their needs, find out how satisfied they are and to deliver quality service to meet their expectations.

In June 2001, we conducted a Customer Satisfaction Survey to obtain feedback from our customers on the Registry's search and registration services. Thanks to the co-operation of our customers, we received 1,323 completed comment cards from them. It is encouraging to note that 88.4% of ratings were very satisfied and quite satisfied with our services. A number of customers have also given their comments and suggestions. We will look into them and take follow-up action, if applicable.

New Performance Pledges for 2001/2002

Through continuous good teamwork and staff dedication, all performance targets were fully met in 2000/2001.

As an on-going commitment to providing improved and quality service to our customers, the Land Registry has set higher performance standards for this year. These are: the service standard for the supply of certification of computerized land registers is improved from 1 to 1/2 working day and certification of computerized land registers acquired through Direct Access Services from 3 to 21/2 working days. For the supply of certification of imaged copies, it has been split into 2 categories: the service time for certified imaged copies without plans is improved from 5 to 3 working days. For certified imaged copies with plans, it remains at 5 working days.

The enhanced service standards set new goals, motivate staff to face new challenges and keep pace with customers' expectations. Pamphlets on the new Performance Pledges have been released and copies are available for collection at any office of the Land Registry, the District Offices of the Home Affairs Department and major public libraries. A table showing the actual performance for major services of the Registry in 2000/2001 and the new service standards for 2001/2002 are given below.

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Promoting a Green Office Environment in the Land Registry

The Land Registry is an environmentally responsible department committed to promoting a green office environment for our staff and visitors. We have directed considerable effort to minimize the environmental impacts arising from our operations, e.g. the large volume of paper consumption for printout and report purposes.

In 1997, we have formulated a green management policy and green housekeeping rules. Our Registry Manager has been appointed as the Green Manager to oversee compliance. We have also set up a Green Housekeeping Working Group to co-ordinate the implementation of the green measures and appointed Green Executives to assist on site.

Over the years, we apply the principles of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Replace" to reduce paper consumption. Our paper consumption has been further reduced through the Direct Access Services enabling our customers to make on-line searches of land records. We have also produced compact diskettes to carry information on property or mortgage transactions, street index and NT Lot/Address Cross Reference Table as substitutes for bulky volumes of papers.

Looking ahead, we will continue to improve our environmental performance and explore new ideas to deal with related issues. Upon the implementation of the Strategic Change Plan in future, we will surely achieve significant savings in the use of paper.

Sale of New Territories Lot/Address Cross Reference Table (2nd Edition)

The 2nd edition of the New Territories Lot/Address Cross Reference Table (CRT) is available for sale at the Islands New Territories Land Registry on 17th Floor of Queensway Government Offices. The price is HK$300 per set.

Since the 1st edition, 2,334 amendments have been made and 44 new streets and 1,436 new lots/sections/subsections have been added to the CRT data. Available Chinese street names have also been incorporated in the CRT. To better serve our customers, we have enhanced the retrieval mode to allow direct search from the CD (i.e. prior downloading the CRT data to the hard disk is no longer required) and use of Chinese street names as retrieval key.

For enquiries, please contact our CRT Unit at 2867 8071.