LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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related land documents are available for search by members of the public at the respective land registries on payment of a small fee. A purchaser or mortgagee will, therefore, be able to check and satisfy himself from the land register as to the nature of the title he is intending to purchase or accept by way of security.
An on-line computer search facility called the Direct Access Services (DAS) is also available. Subscribers to the DAS, mainly solicitors and other professional firms, can have direct access to the computerised registers and can place orders for copies of land records from computer terminals in their own offices without calling at the Land Registry.
All land registers in the Urban Land Registry are computerised. The land registers in the New Territories, presently in book form, are being computerised. The computerisation project will be completed in mid-1997.
Copies of all registered land documents are kept in the Land Registry for public search. A Document Imaging System commenced operation in July 1996. Land documents are scanned and stored as electronic images on optical diskettes. The images can be retrieved and distributed at high speed. The existing land documents which are kept in either microfilm or paper form are also being converted into electronic images in phases. The conversion will be fully completed by the end of 1998.
The Land Registration Ordinance provides that all land documents registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration. If a document is registered within one month of execution, priority shall relate to the date of execution of the document. Registration is essential to the protection of a land title but does not guarantee it.
A Land Titles Bill was introduced into the Legislative Council in November 1994 to replace the existing deeds registration system with one of title registration which will provide certainty of title to property, protect property owners and purchasers, and simplify title-checking procedures. The Legislative Council decided to curtail examination of the Bill in the legislative session which ended in July 1995. The Bill has been revised and may be re-introduced. Land registration statistics are at Appendix 38.
Government Conveyancing
The Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Office of the Lands Department provides professional legal services to the government for all government land transactions and associated matters. It is responsible for the issue, renewal, variation and termination of government leases as well as the drafting and completion of conditions of sale, grants and exchanges of government land, the apportionment of government rents and premiums, and the recovery of outstanding rents. It provides conveyancing services for the Housing Authority in connection with the sale of flats built under the Home Ownership Scheme, and for the Financial Secretary Incorporated in connection with the extension of non-renewable government leases, the purchase and sale of government accommodation in private developments, mortgages to secure interest-free loans to private schools, the purchase of properties for government staff quarters and group housing schemes for the elderly.
It is also responsible for the processing of pre-sale consent applications which are governed by the rules of the Land Authority's Consent Scheme. During the year, nine