Property A!ert – An affordable smart tool for all owners to stay vigilant of their properties at ease

The Property A!ert (the Service) has been well received since the introduction of service enhancements in January 2019 as well as the adoption of an "out-reaching" approach to publicise the Service.

Convenient and Value-for-Money Service

The new one-off subscription option at $580, which will remain valid until a change of property ownership, is most popular among the new subscribers. The additional channel of submitting applications by post apart from in person has attracted more and more usage including some overseas applicants. The following statistics speak for the positive customers’ response:

Over 90% of the new orders were for the one-off subscription period

50% of the subscribers of the previous e-Alert Service for property owners switched their orders to the one-off subscription period

Over 30% of the subscribers used the postal application channel

Out-reaching Publicity Programme

Out-reaching Publicity Programme_Image 1 To raise awareness of the Service among a wider public, a Television Announcement in Public Interest (TV API) on the Service has been launched on various TV channels since 19 July 2019. The TV API is also being disseminated via other channels including Government departments’ websites and facilities, video walls in public parks, etc. An ongoing publicity programme for reaching out direct to potential customer groups has also been kicked-off:

setting up of promotional booths at Government buildings – roadshows were held at the Queensway Government Offices and Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices in July and September 2019 respectively;

promotion through owners’ corporations / owners’ committees of private property developments - a briefing session was conducted in September 2019 for a property development;

publicity through major stakeholders –

a briefing was delivered to around 70 committee members at the 5th Executive Committee Meeting under the 35th Term of the Heung Yee Kuk in October 2019;

a briefing on Property Alert and search services was delivered to around 50 members of the Hong Kong Real Estate Agencies General Association in December 2019;

collaboration with other Government departments to promote Property Alert at joint events – a briefing was delivered to about 80 participants of the Building Safety Advanced Certificate Course offered for owners/owners’ corporations by the Buildings Department in December 2019; and

promotion to customers visiting the Land Registry offices for our services such as those using owners’ corporation services.

e-Alert Service for Authorized Institutions

The e-Alert Service for Authorized Institutions (AIs) is tailor-made for the AIs under the Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155) in a bid to detect unauthorised further mortgages, hence help AIs better manage credit risks in mortgage lending. The Service has been well received by AIs ever since its launch in February 2017. Among all the new mortgages registered in the Land Registry in 2018/19, 98% of the mortgaged properties are monitored under the e-Alert Service for AIs.

e-Alert Service for Authorized Institutions_Image 1 In line with the global trend towards electronic business and for greater operational efficiency, an e-Channel for the e-Alert Service for AIs was launched on 14 January 2019. This service initiative is most welcome by subscriber AIs who can now enjoy the secure and convenient online platform to submit their applications for subscription of service orders and check related application records. As of December 2019, over 60% of the subscription of service orders are submitted via the e-Channel.

e-Alert Service for Authorized Institutions_Image 2 With our commitment to continuous service enhancements, additional facilities for online submission of other service applications such as transfer and/or termination of service orders; and more user functions including maintenance and enquiry of account information will be added to the e-Channel around mid-2020. The relevant development work is now underway.

Integrated Registration Information System (IRIS) Enhancements

With improving customer experience and user-friendliness in mind, we launched the following enhancements to IRIS in July, October and November 2019 respectively:

providing a filtering option to hide closed land registers on the search result page of the “Search Land Register” function;

providing a new “Search PRN” function for quick enquiry of the Property Reference Numbers (PRN) of the land registers of properties; and

providing a bilingual information sheet annexed to the imaged copy of an instrument withheld from registration and imaged on or after 18 November 2019.

Annual Validation of Customer Records

Annual Validation of Customer Records As an annual exercise for updating the information in our customer management system to facilitate effective communication with customers, invitations were sent out in November 2019 to all subscribers of the IRIS Online Services and customers using the deeds lodgement services for providing up-to-date customer data by completing a Customer Data Form. Customers may also download the Change of Account Particulars Form to update their records whenever necessary.

Title Registration

We have continued to pursue the proposal of implementing title registration system on newly granted land first (“new land first” proposal). A Land Titles Ordinance (LTO) Steering Committee meeting was held in December 2019 at which we presented to the members the proposed indemnity arrangements under the LTO and reported the progress on some major issues in respect of the “new land first” proposal including issues which have been discussed at the LTO Review Committee meetings held in July, October and November 2019.

We will continue to engage the key stakeholders with a view to resolving the outstanding issues and finalising the proposed amendments to the LTO.

Service Updates

Property Alert