Annual Report 2000 - 01

Following the success in the introduction of the Cross District Search service in the Central Search Office in Queensway on 2 January 1999, the Land Registry extended similar improved service to our New Territories customers - the New Territories Cross District Search service - on 3 October 2000. Customers can now conduct land searches and place orders for computerised land registers as well as plain and certified copies of imaged land documents for properties anywhere in the territory in any of the New Territories Land Registries at North, Sai Kung, Sha Tin, Tai Po, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long, in addition to the Central Search Office on 19th Floor of Queensway Government Offices.

The Land Registration System is the Land Registry's fully computerised system for the storage of historical and current information on property particulars, including owners' names and encumbrances. The system is updated when a new document is lodged for registration.

The system was enhanced in July 2000 to provide Monthly Memorial Information on Mortgage Transactions on compact disc to customers.

The Director Access Services (DAS), the Registry's fully automated on-line land search facility, was introduced in September 1994. Users of the DAS can, at their own offices, conduct on-line searches of computerised land registers. They can also make use of the DAS Remote Ordering Service to place orders for copies of land documents, which can be collected from the Registry's search offices, delivered to them by mail or, for imaged land documents, by fax.

DAS is a very fast and convenient search service as users can save considerable time and effort in attending the Registry's search offices for land searches. As at 31 March 2001, there were 526 subscribers to the DAS. About 80% of the searches of computerised land registers and 70% of the orders for copies of land documents are now made through the DAS.

With the enhancement of the remote order screen in January 2001, monitoring the stability of DAS/DIS interface becomes more effective and speedy so that a more stable and reliable system performance can be ensured.

The Document Imaging System (DIS) is the Land Registry's fully computerised system for storage and retrieval of land documents. Starting on 1 July 1996, all newly registered land documents are scanned at the Central Imaging Centre and their electronic images are stored in optical disks for on-line retrieval.

The whole conversion of the existing land documents into electronic images was completed in December 1998. Over 140 million pages of paper and microfilmed land documents have been successfully captured into the DIS.

The introduction of the 'Collection by Fax Service', since 27 January 1997, has added extra convenience to the DAS subscribers to receive ordered copies of the imaged land documents through fax machines at their own offices. This service has been well received by the DAS subscribers and, in March 2001, over 70% of orders are collected by fax. With the increased popularity of the service, an enhancement to control the flow of remote orders was implemented in July 2000 which has further enhanced the reliability of the service.

To maintain the healthiness of the system, a database health check was conducted in March 2001. Subsequent to the health check, some table re-organisation and application tuning were done. The improved performance of the system can meet the customers' higher requirements.

The 'Index of Streets, House Numbers and Lots in Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Kowloon' (the Street Index) correlates property addresses with the corresponding lot numbers and is published by the Land Registry to facilitate land searches in Urban areas.

The first edition of the Street Index was published in the 19th century. Editions prior to the 28th edition consisted of bound volumes - single volume pre-war, double volumes post-war. From the 28th edition onwards, the Street Index was published in loose-leaf form, to facilitate additions and alterations. Particulars of such additions and alterations were published periodically in 'noters-up'; 16 noters-up were added to the 30th edition.

Since the 31st edition, released in January 1999, the Land Registry had replaced the traditional street index data in two bulky volumes with a single compact disc, thus enabling users to search the data more speedily and conveniently through their personal computers, a far cry from the 1st edition published in the 19th century.

The 33rd edition, which was released for sale from 2 January 2001, contained 535 amendments, 14 new streets and 326 new lots/sections/subsections. Its retrieval mode was also enhanced to allow direct search from the compact disc (i.e. prior downloading the Street Index data to the hard disk is no longer required) and use of Chinese street names as retrieval key. By 31 March 2001, 494 sets of the new Street Index were sold.

To facilitate land searches of properties in the New Territories, a New Territories Lot/Address Cross Reference Table (CRT) is compiled from address information held by the Rating and Valuation Department and the Land Registry. The CRT enables users to identify the lot numbers of New Territories properties by reference to the available addresses and buildings, and vice versa.

The first edition of the CRT, containing a comprehensive list of around 70,000 New Territories Lots, was released for sale on 25 April 2000 in the form of a compact disc, thus enabling fast and convenient retrieval of data. By 31 March 2001, 509 copies of the CRT were sold. The CRT will be updated annually and released for sale as a new edition in April each year.

Under the Land Registration Regulations, the Land Registry keeps plans attached to land documents for future reference, produces the plans for inspection, supplies copies of plans and provides a colouring service for copies upon requests. Over 3 million such plans are stored in the Land Registry. Other than retaining the original plans, these plans are stored as monochrome images in the DIS. In order to speed up retrieval, to enhance the quality of the colouring service and to save office space, the colour imaging of plans will be introduced so that the plan images can be stored electronically in colour and plan copies can be produced automatically by colour printers.

The tender notice for the colour imaging of plans was gazetted on 22 September 2000 and the tender closed on 3 November 2000. Tender evaluation is in progress and the award of the contract will be in the third quarter of 2001. The conversion of plans into colour images will then commence in the first quarter of 2002.

In support of the Central Government's initiative and to ensure no unauthorised software is used in the department, the Land Registry has fully implemented Software Asset Management (SAM) in December 2000.

The SAM comprises 4 stages. Stage 1 - acquisition of software - is to acquire software legitimately, keep software licenses and maintain software inventory up-to-date. Stage 2 - deployment of software - is to define procedures for installing and distributing software. Stage 3 - use of software - is to use only authorised software. Stage 4 - monitoring the software usage - is to conduct periodic software asset review and audits and confirm the legality of all software used.

Stages 1 to 3 are already practices in the Land Registry. As to Stage 4, the first software audit was conducted in September/October 2000 upon the procurement of an automated SAM tool. The review and follow-up of the first audit were completed in December 2000. No unauthorised software was found.

SAM is an on-going process as the Land Registry is committed to complying with intellectual property law.

To allow the Land Registry's Local Area Network (LAN) users to obtain information and electronic services needed by them in their daily work at a click of the mouse, the departmental LAN was connected to the Central Cyber Government Office, the Government Intranet Service, in May 2000. Our LAN users can instantly access reference materials like Civil Service Regulations, the latest service-wide information such as circular memos, IT information, etc. at our fingertips. We can also view live video broadcast of major events by Senior Government Officials through our workstations.

To allow the Registry to enjoy a more efficient and cost-effective internet access service, the departmental LAN was also connected to the Secure Central Internet Gateway (SCIG) system in December 2000. With the SCIG service, the Registry can disseminate information and communicate with members of the public over the internet through a secure and centrally managed gateway. Currently, 16 users in our department are using the internet services provided by the SCIG system.