Frequently Asked Questions

A: An ad hoc user can access the IRIS Online Services on a need basis. Payment can be settled by JCB, Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay and PPS in the desktop version or by JCB, Mastercard, VISA and UnionPay in the mobile version. A Subscriber is usually a frequent user. Service fees are settled by monthly autopay. The subscriber will pay to the Land Registry a non-refundable application fee, a non-refundable fee for each Supplementary Login ID and a non-interest bearing deposit for each subscriber account.

A:

• You have to fill in the " Application Form for Subscriber Account" (LR/OLS/1) and " Direct Debit Authorization Form" (LR/OLS/2).
• Complete and return the forms with copies of relevant documents (Business Registration Certificate/Certificate of Incorporation/Hong Kong Identity Card/Passport) to the Search Services Help Desk.
• Forms can be downloaded from the Land Registry website and the IRIS Online Services website or received by fax from the Customer Service Hotline 3105 0000 or obtained from our Customer Centre at Queensway and any of our New Territories Search Offices.

A: Locked Login ID and Password can be unlocked and reset by one of the following methods:

1. Unlock your locked Login ID and reset your password by using the online “Unlock Login ID” or “Forget Password” functions provided in IRIS Online Services website. Please refer to Q21 below for details.
2. Log on the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services with a Login ID with supervisor privilege and then unlock the locked supplementary Login ID under the same service account by the “Enquire Login ID(s) Status” function.
3. Call Customer Service Hotline (Tel: 3105 0000) to obtain the "Application Form for Unlocking IRIS Online Services login ID (for Normal Login)" by fax. Then, complete and return/fax the form to the Search Services Help Desk. The form can also be downloaded from the Land Registry website and the IRIS Online Services website.You may also complete the application at the Land Registry website and submit the form online.

A: Subscriber can enquire the account balance, current statement, previous monthly statement and statement by date range of the Subscriber Account in the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services. Subscriber can view the account balance in the mobile version.

A: A deposit of 2-month usage should be maintained in the IRIS Online Services Subscriber Account. The subscriber may write to the Land Registry to request for refund of any excessive deposit placed. Refund will be arranged accordingly.

A: The unused balance of deposit is calculated as the amount of deposit placed less the outstanding service fees not yet paid for previous months and the current month service fees.

A: Confirmation of transaction will be rejected if the unused balance of deposit is insufficient to cover the transaction amount. You are advised to increase the amount of deposit.

A: After logging in the IRIS system, the current Unused Balance Alert Function of the deposit of your account is shown on the screen.
Subscribers can follow the steps below to enable the Unused Balance Alert Function. When your account's unused balance has dropped below your pre-set balance threshold, you can receive notification by email and/or alert message on screen according to your preference.

1. Log in the IRIS website (desktop version) by using a supervisor Login ID.
2. Select "Enquire Account Balance Alert" function.
3. Click "Edit" to enter the "Set up Account Balance Alert" screen.
   
   
   • Select a balance threshold format and then enter either a fixed amount (e.g. $1,000) or a percentage of your deposit amount (e.g. 10% of the $20,000 deposit, i.e. $2,000); and
   • Select email and/or alert on screen for receiving the notification. If you select the notification by email, you should enter your email address.
4. Click "Continue" to view your settings again and then click "Confirm" to complete the setup procedure.

In addition, you can edit your settings such as:

• change the balance threshold or email address;
• unselect all notification methods.

To view your amendment history in the past 6 months, you can select "Enquire Account Balance Alert" function and click the "View Balance Alert Change History". 

A: The clearing date for autopay is the 5th working day of each month. The subscriber should ensure sufficient money in its bank account on or before 4th working day of each month for auto-payment. The auto-payment received is updated to IRIS on the day after the 7th working day of each month.

A: Complete " Direct Debit Authorisation Form" (LR/OLS/2) and return it to the Land Registry. Keep sufficient money in the original bank account for auto-payment until we notify you that the bank has confirmed completion of processing.

A: No. Subscriber can login the mobile version of the IRIS Online Services using only normal login method and iAM Smart.

A: Subscribers can choose to login with Digital Certificates in the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services. Hongkong Post 'Organisational' / 'Personal' e-Cert or Digi-Sign 'Organisational' / 'Personal' ID-Cert will be accepted. For details, please refer to the Hongkong Post e-Cert website (http://www.hongkongpost.gov.hk) or Digi-Sign Certification Services Limited website (http://www.dg-sign.com). 

A: The iAM Smart login method is only available to Hong Kong resident. If you are a Hong Kong resident, you can register with iAM Smart System for an iAM Smart account by installing the iAM Smart Mobile Application to your own device with built-in biometric authentication. For eligible Hong Kong resident of age below 18, registration of iAM Smart account can be performed via the same channels, but to be supported by a guardian with age 18 or above. An iAM Smart account can only be bound to one device at a time.

A: The new login method is free of charge.

A: Yes. If you are a subscriber, you can use iAM Smart to login for the IRIS Online Services on both desktop and mobile device after you have linked the subscriber login ID with the iAM Smart account.

A: You can link 3 Login IDs to your iAM Smart Account.

A: No. The system does not allow more than one login to the system concurrently using the same Subscriber Login ID. In addition, the system does not allow login to the desktop version and mobile version of the IRIS Online Services concurrently at the same time.

A: Yes. Your login ID will be revoked after 5 consecutive unsuccessful login (the count of the 5 consecutive unsuccessful login includes both desktop version and mobile version).

A: Applicant shall pay a non-refundable application fee of HK$1,500 at one time when registering as an IRIS Online Services Subscriber. No annual fee is required. A non-interest bearing deposit, which is calculated on your 2-month usage should be paid first. The minimum amount of the deposit is HK$500. A non-refundable fee of HK$750 is payable for each supplementary Login ID upon request.

A: Current statement and previous month statement are monthly statements. By using "Enquire Subscriber Information" function in the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services, subscribers are not only able to get the current statement (position as at previous day) but also can extract the information for the past six months from the previous month statement. On the other hand, subscribers can also extract the information for (i) a specified date range from the statement by date range or (ii) a particular day from the monthly statement and view the current day account balance and print out the daily balance summary which is updated daily and available online. As the system only keeps 6 months' information for enquiry by subscriber, you may contact our Customer Service Hotline (Tel. 31050000) direct for other arrangement if a statement for the past 12 months is required.

A: If the Subscriber Login ID is dormant for 90 days, the password of that Login ID will expire. You may contact the Search Services Help Desk (Tel.: 3105 0000) for resetting the password.

A: After you log on as a subscriber, the system will default the customer information of the subscriber account in the "Enter Customer Information" page when you make searches. You may contact the coordinator of your department to see if the mailing address/fax number of the subscriber account can be removed in order not to show on screen when making searches. If the mailing address/fax number are left blank, you will be prompted to enter the mailing address for "By Mail" orders and fax number for "By Fax" orders. Please contact our Search Services Help Desk (Tel.: 3105 0000) for assistance, if required.

A:

The "Contact Person Name" field is left blank to allow more flexibility to users.

Effective from March 2012, a new option has been added to the "Your Order List – Enter Customer Information" screen to allow retaining temporarily the input of customer information (e.g. contact person name, contact person phone number, etc.) for the next search.

 

A: Subscribers can extract the information for a particular day from the monthly statement. The account balance of the current day can be viewed by selecting the "Enquire Account Balance" as Service Option under the "Enquire Subscriber Information" menu in the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services. This daily balance summary is available online and updated daily. The "Balance brought forward" as seen on the summary shows the total outstanding service fee of the related account up to the previous day while the breakdown of the service fees incurred for the current day is listed below. Subscribers can also print out the daily balance summary for record purpose. Subscribers can also view the account balance in the mobile version.

A:

You are advised to keep the initial password as you will use it again once the subscriber ID has been unlocked by our Search Services Help Desk.
The initial password can be obtained by written application if it is lost. Please submit the original document with authorized signature and company chop to Search Services Help Desk on Unit 1202, 12/F., One Kowloon, 1 Wang Yuen Street, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon.

A: If you are subscriber of our IRIS Online Services, you can unlock your locked Login ID or reset your password by using the online “Unlock Login ID” function (for Digital Certificate login method) or “Forget Password” function (for Normal login method). You must provide correct answer to your preset security question. After successful verification of your identity, the system will immediately unlock the locked Login ID or reset the password. Please refer to Q25 or Q26 for details of using the “Forget Password” and “Unlock Login ID” functions respectively.

Please note that you have to set up the security profile before using this function.
Please refer to Q23 below for details.

A: If you are a supplementary Login ID user, you must ask your supervisor (i.e. (Login ID with supervisor privilege) to enable the use of this function for you. If you are supervisor, you can use this function right away.

Log on to the IRIS (desktop version) and select “Enquire Security Profile” function. Click Edit to go to the “Set Up Security Profile” screen and then set three security questions and answers in your Security Profile. Answers must comply with the rules below. 

• 6 to 30 characters (including English characters, numbers, space or symbols)
• Case sensitive
• Do not use your Login ID or Account Number

Register your email address to receive the unlocking notification email.
When necessary, update the information of your Security Profile using the above function. 

A: No. You can only set up or edit your security profile in the desktop version of the IRIS Online Services.

A: You can follow the steps below:

1. In the “Subscriber Login” screen, select “For Normal Login User” as the “Login Options” first and then click “Forget Password”.
2. Type your Login ID and registered email address. ^Note(i)
3. Provide answer to the security question on screen. You can select another one if you forget the answer of that question. ^Note(ii)
4. The system will verify your identity according to your answer to the question. If the answer is correct, the system will reset the password of your Login ID immediately by a temporary password which will be sent to your registered email address. The temporary password is only valid for 24 hours and therefore, you must complete the next step within 24 hours.
5. After receiving the email, go to the subscriber login screen again. Type your Login ID and the temporary password provided in the email. After successfully logging on to the system, you will be directed to the “Change Password” screen to reset your password.

Note(i)	If you fail to provide your correct email address for 5 times, the system will temporarily block you from using the “Forget Password” function for 10 minutes.
Note(ii)	If you cannot provide correct answer to the questions for 5 times, you are not allowed to use this online “Forget Password” function to unlock your locked Login ID.

A: You can follow the steps below:

1. In the “Subscriber Login” screen (desktop version), select “For User Login with Digital Certificate” as the “Login Options” first and then click “Unlock Login ID”.
2. Type your Login ID and registered email address. ^Note(i)
3. Provide answer to the security question on screen. You can select another one if you forget the answer of that question. ^Note(ii)
4. The system will verify your identity according to your answer to the question. If the answer is correct, the system will unlock your Login ID immediately. A notification email will be sent to your registered email address.

Note(i)	If you fail to provide your correct email address for 5 times, the system will temporarily block you from using the “Unlock Login ID” function for 10 minutes.
Note(ii)	If you cannot provide correct answer to the questions for 5 times, you are not allowed to use this online “Unlock Login ID” function to unlock your locked Login ID.

A: Yes. Through the “Enquire Login ID(s) status” online function in IRIS Online Services, supervisor can enable or disable the use of “Unlock Login ID” and “Forget Password” functions by any one of the supplementary Login IDs under the same account.

A: Yes. Through the “Enquire Login ID(s) status” online function in IRIS Online Services, supervisor can lock or unlock any one of the supplementary Login ID under the same account to use the online search services.