XN000022-1995-09-26 — Page 15

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Land Survey Ordinance will take effect early next year

Starting from mid-January next year, conveyance or other instrument in writing effecting a division of land and delivered to the Land Registry for registration should be accompanied by a land boundary plan signed and certified by an authorised land

surveyor.

This is required under the new Land Survey Ordinance which will become operational on January 15 next year.

Announcing details of the ordinance at a press conference today (Tuesday), Principal Government Land Surveyor, Mr Leung Shou-chun, said the ordinance dealt only with division of land but without provisions to amend errors in old land boundary plans.

Furthermore, the ordinance would not apply to division of land effected by a will or judgment and the granting of probate in respect of a will or judgment but would apply upon transfer of title of the divided lots.

Mr Leung said under the ordinance, land owners or their agents would have to engage authorised land surveyors, who should be fully qualified professionals with experience in land boundary surveys in Hong Kong, to carry out a survey for sub- division.

An authorised land surveyor who certified the land boundary plan for the division should deposit with the Land Survey Authority a duplicate of the plan and the corresponding survey record plan not later than seven days after the deed had been delivered into the Land Registry for registration.

The Land Survey Authority, namely the Director of Lands or effectively the Principal Government Land Surveyor to whom the Director has delegated his functions under the ordinance, will check the plans for compliance with a Code of Practice and will forward the plans to the respective District Survey Office for record and information.

Mr Leung stressed that the final responsibility for the accuracy and reliability of the land boundary plans rested with the authorised land surveyors. If a plan did not comply with the Code of Practice, the authorised land surveyor would be required to make the necessary amendments. Failure to do so is an offence under the law.

Mr Leung also pointed out that there was no provision in the ordinance for the Land Survey Authority to amend the original land boundary plan registered with the Land Registry. However, he advised land owners, for their own benefit, to submit an amended land boundary plan for registration with the Land Registry.