The Land Registry - Title Registration - Post-enactment Review and Preparation for Title Registration : Position Report (23 May 2007)

Post-enactment Review and Preparation for Title Registration : Position Report (23 May 2007)

When the Land Titles Ordinance (LTO) was enacted in 2004, the Legislative Council made clear that it would not approve the ordinance being brought into effect until the Government had carried out a review of a range of issues and had worked through all practical arrangements with the Law Society of Hong Kong, the Estate Agents Authority and other parties.

The review has established that an amendment bill will need to be enacted before title registration begins. Preparation of this amendment bill is underway. After enactment of the amendment bill, various final preparations will need to be made before the LTO can commence.

Under the enacted LTO, all existing property will remain under the Land Registration Ordinance until a conversion date laid down in Schedule 1 to the LTO. This is 12 years after the commencement date. At that point, with certain exceptions, all existing property will be brought over to the title register. This will be done automatically. Owners will not have to make any special application or pay any fee for the conversion.

Papers:-

Progress report (pdf format)

This outlines the work completed since the enactment of the LTO and tasks still to be completed.

Annex A (pdf format)

This sets out the current position on the issues raised by the Legislative Council for review or follow up action in 2004.

Annex B (pdf format)

This sets out new matters raised during the course of the review that will be dealt with by the Land Titles (Amendment) Bill (LT(A)B).

Annex C (pdf format)

This sets out all comments received from various parties on the working draft of the LT(A)B circulated in 2006, with responses made by the Land Registry.