Potential Purchasers
Q1: What will be the fee levels under the title registration system?
A: The Land Registry as a trading fund department should recover the full cost for providing its services on an overall basis. Exact fee levels will be set closer to the time of implementation of the title registration system, i.e. after passage of the Amendment Bill.
Q2: What will be the Indemnity Cap and levy rates of the Indemnity Fund under the title registration system?
A: Based on the recommendations of an actuarial consultant engaged by LR earlier this year, and taking into account the self-sustainability of the Indemnity Fund as well as the level of public acceptance, the Government proposed that the indemnity cap be HK$50 million (as compared to HK$30 million when the LTO was enacted in 2004) and a flat levy rate of 0.014% be charged on the consideration amount of each property being transferred. The Government will review the level of the indemnity cap and the levy rates at an opportune time after the implementation of LTO with experience gained.
Q3: How can one check whether a property is registered under the LTO or the LRO?
A: Individual title registers will be opened for properties registered under the LTO. Similar to the unique Property Reference Number (“PRN”) assigned to each LRO register, each individual title register will bear a unique reference number, called Title Number (“TN”). The online services of the Integrated Registration Information System will be enhanced so that a common platform will be available to support online search of both the LRO and LTO records. By entering the lot number or address of the property concerned on the common platform, the system will direct searchers to the relevant LRO register (with PRN shown) or title register (with TN shown) as the case may be. Searchers can easily ascertain whether a property is registered under the LRO or the LTO.