Land Registry News

A Message from the Land Registrar

The year of the Monkey has begun with us being less far along the path to improved services than we had expected last year. Both the development of the Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) and the preparation of the Land Titles Bill have not been carried forward as smoothly as we would have liked, despite intensive work on our part. On a happier note, we have come into the new year with a surge of business, reversing the persistent downward trend of the last three years. Lodgements for registration are now exceeding 2,000 a day, over 25% up on the same time last year. We are busy redeploying staff and recruiting extra help where needed to ensure that we continue to meet our service standards for all customers. Maintaining service quality while we work through the remaining steps to put our new registration and information systems into operation is our focus for the first half of this year. It now looks likely that work on the Land Titles Bill will have to be extended into the next legislative year. No matter, we will remain constant in our purpose of ensuring that a title registration system is introduced that will work to the benefit of Hong Kong. In the interim, we will continue to work with all our partners to find ways to improve our services so as to help you with yours. On behalf of all my colleagues in the Land Registry I wish you all prosperity and happiness in this new year.

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

Update: Information Systems Strategic Plan Implementation

The main development phase for our new Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) has been completed and we advanced to the system testing phase in October 2003.

We now expect that, after completing all testing and training, IRIS will be ready for live run in the third quarter of 2004. Notice will be sent to all customers well in advance of the date for commencement of IRIS operation.

Update: Land Titles Bill

Deliberation on the Land Titles Bill has now gone on through 22 meetings of the Bills Committee. There are still a number of major issues that remain unresolved as well as extensive detail that can only be finalized once the main points of contention are settled. The Land Registry has been exploring with the Law Society a number of ideas for dealing with the concerns that the Law Society has raised about conversion based on a certificate of good title. Discussion is now focused on proposals developed from the approach used in New South Wales and Queensland to convert existing properties to the title register after the lapse of a specified number of years without the need for a certificate of good title. It remains to be seen whether such an approach will be acceptable to other parties and whether the present bill can proceed within the current legislative session.

Interested parties may visit our web-site at http://www.landreg.gov.hk to which a hyperlink to the web-site of the Legislative Council has been established for reference to all papers relating to the Bill.

New Learning Resource Centre

Self-learning Booths

There are 6 booths each with a multimedia PC system connected to the Internet to facilitate self-learning.

Library

Classroom

Change of the Land Registry's Web-site Address and Web-site Survey

For achieving consistency among government web-sites, the Land Registry's web-site address has recently been changed to http://www.landreg.gov.hk.

We aim to ensure that our web-site provides a good communication channel linking you to the Land Registry. The site contains comprehensive information about us - our mission, vision, objectives, services and operations. It contains an interactive guide to assist anyone preparing memorials for registration and will be the gateway into our online search service when the Integrated Registration Information System goes live.

Your views are most valuable to us for improving both our web-site and our services. An online survey questionnaire has been uploaded onto our web-site to collect your views. We would be grateful for a moment of your time to complete the questionnaire when you visit the web-site.

The Land Registry Trading Fund Annual Report 2002/03

The Land Registry Trading Fund Annual Report 2002/03 was published in October 2003. It gives a detailed account of our activities over that financial year. Detail is also provided on the progress of the Strategic Change Plan for enhancing service quality and bringing international best practice in land registration services to customers. An audited financial statement with full account of the financial position of the Land Registry Trading Fund (LRTF) is provided. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the LRTF, the report contains a review of our first ten years of operation as well as a ten-year statistical summary.

In support of environmental protection, this year's report was published in electronic format only. The full report can be viewed or downloaded through our web-site at http://www.landreg.gov.hk. We welcome your comments and feedback. An online survey questionnaire is provided or you can email us at csa@landreg.gov.hk.

The Controlling Officer's Environmental Report 2002

Our report for 2002 is available for public viewing from our web-site at http://www.landreg.gov.hk. We see our contribution to care for the environment as part of our total approach to quality service to the community. In 2002, our consumption of envelopes and papers reduced by 23.4% and 8.4% respectively when compared to the previous year. Each step of waste avoidance that we take helps make Hong Kong a better place and helps us to give you more efficient service.

COMMENTS

Land Registry News would like to hear from you. If there are any specific subjects you would like to read about or if you have any comments on what you have read so far, please write to us at the freepost address (local mail only) given below:

The Land Registry
Freepost No. 10
Hong Kong

For enquiries, please contact:

e-mail: csa@landreg.gov.hk