Post-enactment Review and Preparation for Title Registration : Position Report (January 2019)

To enable early implementation of the title registration system in Hong Kong, we have been actively pursuing the proposal of implementing title registration on newly granted land first (“new land first” proposal). In September 2018, a meeting was held with the Law Society of Hong Kong for conducting dummy run of typical conveyancing transactions under the Land Titles Ordinance (LTO) to give them a better understanding of the likely operation of the title registration system.

Meetings were held with the LTO Review Committee (LTORC) and the LTO Steering Committee (LTOSC) in October and November 2018 respectively where the proposed scope of new land and some pertinent amendments to the LTO under the “new land first” proposal were considered and discussed. While there were outstanding issues required to be resolved, all key stakeholders had indicated support for the “new land first” proposal.

Besides, the study on title registration legislation and good practices in some overseas jurisdictions had been completed and the draft report was circulated to members of the LTORC for comments in July 2018, and the final report was presented at the LTOSC meeting held in November 2018.

We will continue to engage the key stakeholders with a view to resolving the outstanding issues and finalising the proposed amendments to the LTO for early implementation of the title registration system in Hong Kong.