Landwrap February 2007
LINZ News
News
January figures for electronic lodgements
- A total of 940 law firms out of a possible 1,366 lodged an e-dealing in January. Twenty-three of those firms lodging were first time users.
- The e-dealing share of total e-dealing-capable lodgements sat at 69.8% in January.
- A total of 149 survey firms out of a possible 343 lodged an e-survey in January. Five of those firms lodging were first time users.
- The e-survey share of total survey lodgements was 61.7% for January.
Landonline
Landonline 2.9 release
The Landonline application is continuously updated through a series of releases. These releases are to take advantage of changes in technology, to make the system more robust and to reflect changes that Landonline users suggest to help make Landonline easier.
Landonline 2.9 Release is the latest of these updates focussing primarily on the changes to make Landonline easier for e-survey users. It also has some changes to the layout of some e-dealing screens in preparation for functionality changes scheduled later this year. This release is scheduled to happen over the weekend including Saturday 12 May 2007.
Some changes that surveyors will see include:
- minimising the number of layers that display when a plan opens up
- in plan generation, define diagrams will truncate bearings and distances in observations, and
- filter out and prevent illegal characters in plan generation.
The next issue of Landwrap will provide further detail of the changes that customers will experience resulting from Release 2.9.
Regulatory
Methodology for auditing cadastral surveys released
As advised during 2006, LINZ has tested a new methodology for auditing cadastral surveys. Following the Pilot project and discussions with the NZ Institute of Surveyors and the Institute of Cadastral Surveying, LINZ refined the methodology and released it in February 2007.
The new methodology will review the Quality Assurance processes of Licensed Cadastral Surveyors and include a field inspection and an office visit.
The methodology document was distributed to all Licensed Cadastral Surveyors, on behalf of LINZ, by the Cadastral Surveyors Licensing Board early in February 2007 (via email or in hardcopy). If you have not received a copy, you can download it from LINZ's website.
If you have any queries, send an email to info@linz.govt.nz, and put Regulatory Quality Assurance in the subject line.
e-survey
0800 e-survey customer support pool widens
The 0800 ONLINE team during training
From the end of March, e-survey user support customers will encounter some new voices when they ring 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463).
These changes are partly due to some of the current 0800 e-survey support staff moving back to their roles in processing centres. They will continue to provide support for the plan approval process or act as a Help Desk Technical Advisor (HDTA) for surveyors.
Our 0800 Customer Support team members have been undergoing a training programme since November 2006, led by Wayne Henderson, e-survey Team Leader, to widen the pool of e-survey user support.
While we are not changing the type of support offered to our e-survey customers, the way your call is handled may be a little different.
So what does this mean?
Technology and Landonline application user support queries will continue to be resolved by the Customer Support team. We will continue to log and assign complex queries to a Business Analyst for resolution as required. We will now also log and assign complex survey and 'how to' queries to an HDTA in the same way.
As well as 0800 ONLINE, surveyors are encouraged to use the support tools available on the Landonline website. These include the full online e-survey User Guide, Quick Reference Cards, Quick Links and training tools, and the comprehensive Landonline Education Centre.
e-survey training - where to from here
Free training ends for surveyors on 28 Feburary 2007. If you need to book in for this training, or get your firm up and running with Landonline, you need to contact LINZ now on 0800 665 463. If you haven't been trained, you can expect a call from us soon.
To get up and running with e-survey you need to follow the steps outlined below:
- Think about how many e-survey licences your firm will need and how many people in your firm will need a Digital Certificate
- Start the Landonline sign-up process and download the software. You can follow the sign-up steps online and if you need help at any time, call 0800 665 463
- Use the online training tools or sign-up for the free training offered by LINZ. The earlier you begin this process, the sooner you will be comfortable working in the e-survey environment
- Have a look at the range of resources available on the Landonline website. There are business tips, FAQs and an e-survey web forum to assist you to prepare for 1 September 2007.
e-survey bureau services "save us time and money"
A Wellington surveyor says that for his firm using the services of an e-survey bureau has flow on benefits for both clients and staff.
Peter Maunder of Peter A Maunder Ltd, Wellington
"By using the expertise of the e-survey bureau, we can satisfy our clients quicker", says Peter Maunder of Peter A Maunder Ltd, Licensed Cadastral Surveyors. "The sooner clients can get title, the sooner they can settle the deal."
Peter says his firm has four survey staff with differing levels of proficiency in using e-survey and the bureau speeds up the process of using the system.
"Expediency is the word that comes to mind. What the bureau can do in two hours would take us much longer."
Peter says the process they have set up with the bureau works well. "We prepare the data in 12D software and send it to the bureau to enter into Landonline. The completed e-survey is sent back to us and we sign and certify the plan online and submit it with attachments such as survey reports and supplementary sheets."
Infill subdivisions make up a large part of his firm's workload. "Using an e-survey bureau is making subdivision and other work in e-survey easier for us. The online pre-validation check is good but you still have to check that everything is right. The e-survey bureau provides a further check that the plan is correct."
Peter adds that by using a bureau, staff are less likely to be tied up with requisitions. "Again, this is a more effective and economical process for us. However, it is beneficial for the surveyor to have sufficient e-survey knowledge to make changes if necessary."
Peter A Maunder Ltd has an e-survey licence and do complete some surveys in Landonline themselves. Other smaller survey firms are choosing not to get a licence and use an e-survey bureau for all the work that involves Landonline. They are still required to digitally sign their own surveys, however, and therefore must have a Digital Certificate associated with another firm's licence such as the bureau's.
You can read more about e-survey bureau services in the March and October 2006 issues of Landwrap.
e-survey BUREAU SERVICE PROVIDERS
The firms providing e-survey bureau services that we are aware of currently are:
Paterson Pitts Partners Ltd (PPPL) - contact Mark O'Gorman on 03 477 3245
Winmill e-survey Services Ltd - contact Ralph Winmill on 027 4494 863
Cadastre Ltd - contact Allan Wilson on 03 573 6997
Landlink Agency Ltd - contact Liz Bewley or Sharon Patterson on 03 546 9952
Nikkel Surveying Ltd - contact Tony Nikkel on 03 528 4455
e-survey web forum popular with surveyors
LINZ's e-survey web forum is proving popular with more than 50 surveyors registered so far.
Surveyors have made 54 postings under the forum's various topics areas. Topics have been refined and now cover LandXML, workspace, create e-survey, pre-validation, capture, supporting documents, plan generation, online TA e-certification, submit and best practice.
Plan generation is the most popular topic to date with 24 postings.
The forum provides a vehicle for surveyors to share their ideas, comments and feedback about e-survey online with others in the survey community. LINZ endeavours to post the more straightforward responses (where appropriate) within two days. Detailed responses may take a bit longer. Check out the e-survey web forum and get posting today.
New e-survey tips, hints and FAQs
The Tips, Hints and FAQs sections on the Landonline website are continually being refined and added to. The following tips and FAQs have just been added:
e-survey plan examples
Feedback from the survey community has resulted in LINZ developing a comprehensive list of e-survey plans that surveyors can use for reference to assist them when using e-survey.
Sample plans cover a wide range including subdivision, strata, easement, covenant, Maori Land, redefinition, and vesting. Most can be downloaded and printed off for the surveyor's convenience.
Showing appurtenant easements on unit plans
Existing appurtenant easements are not required to be shown 'spatially' on unit plans.
Section 7 of the Unit Titles Act 1972 (the Act) requires existing subject and appurtenant easements 'to be recorded (by diagram, words or otherwise) on the unit plan'.
For an appurtenant easement, a schedule as illustrated in the Cadastral Survey Guidelines e-survey Version 5.1, paragraph 6.12.2.4.4 - (pdf 1.42MB) is considered to be sufficient to comply with section 7.2 of the Act.
See more information on showing appurtenant easements on unit plans.How to use the Survey Description field
In the CSL_S02 - Manage Survey Transaction and the CSC_S02 - Survey Header screens, the Survey Description is entered and can also be edited.
The Survey Description field should be typed as one continuous line. The 'Enter' key should not be used when entering a Survey Description in either the CSL_S02 - Manage Survey Transaction screen or the CSC_S02 - Survey Header screen.
If the 'Enter' key is used, the full Survey Description is truncated in two areas (i.e. the Survey Description appears incomplete):
- The Structured Text View of the DSP/DTP
- The images of the DSP/DTP
To ensure that the Survey Description is entered correctly as one continuous line, do not use the 'Enter' key in either of the CSL_S02 or CSC_S02 screens.
How to use the Date field
When entering the Survey Finish Date in the CSC_S02 - Survey Header screen, ensure that the correct date is entered and that the correct date format is used.
If your date format is not correct, close out of Landonline and follow these steps:
- On your Desktop select 'Start/Settings/Control Panel'
- Select 'Regional Options'
- Select the 'Date' tab
- Check that the 'Short Date Format' = d/MM/yyyy
- Check that the 'Long Date Format' = dddd, d MMMM yyyy
- Log back onto Landonline – date format will now be correct
Avoiding errors with unit development plan suffixes
Staged unit development plans are assigned letter suffixes to distinguish between the stages of the plan that all have the same LT or DP survey number.
Landonline automatically assigns suffixes on creation of the survey header and maintains the suffixes as various stages are processed from allocation of the number through submission, approval and deposit.
For this automated suffixing system to work correctly, it is important the surveyor correctly identifies the type of survey at the time that the survey header is completed and a plan number is allocated. It is also imperative that no suffix is entered in the 'Previous Unit Plan Stage' field. This field should only contain the LT or DP survey number i.e. DP 12345. If an error is made in this part of the process, it is extremely difficult to resolve the resulting problems.
More detailed information on unit development plan suffixes can be found in the online surveying education Training & Support materials.
Are you using all the e-survey tools and tips?
There is a wealth of self-help information on the Landonline website to assist with completing e-surveys in the e-survey section.
The e-survey Tips, Hints & Training Tools section includes links to the full online e-survey User Guide, Quick Reference Cards, Quick Links and training tools. The comprehensive Landonline Education Centre can be accessed by completing a search on any topic.
e-dealing
e-dealing - include the correct mortgage details
A solicitor preparing and certifying a mortgage in the e-dealing workspace has the same responsibility for ensuring the details are correct as they would have in preparing a paper mortgage.
If any information is not correct then, as with a paper mortgage, the risk and responsibility lies with the solicitor and not LINZ. That solicitor therefore will need to take steps to correct the details.
To assist in the preparation of mortgages by including the correct name of an institutional mortgagee, the e-dealing workspace enables you to select an institutional mortgagee's name from a drop-down list. While this function is included for the convenience of solicitors, care should be taken to ensure that the correct mortgagee's name is selected. LINZ can not be responsible for ensuring that every institutional mortgagee's name is included or, if the name changes, is correct.
For example, Trustees Executors Limited (TEA) acts as a custodian for a number of lenders whose funding structure requires the mortgages to be held by a custodian trustee. This had resulted in the names of a number of mortgagees including the words 'TEA Custodians' in their title. See the list of these companies below:
- TEA Custodians (Pacific) Limited
- TEA Custodians (Interstar) Limited
- TEA Custodians (Bluestone) Limited
- TEA Custodians (Equitable) Limited
- T.E.A. Custodians Limited
- T.E.A. Custodians (Seniorcare) Limited
- TEA Custodians (CHPT) Limited
- TEA Custodians (Oceania) Limited
- TEA Custodians (Kauri) Limited
When you are creating an electronic mortgage with a "TEA Custodian" company as the mortgagee, you need to take special care to ensure that the correct TEA Custodian name is selected. If the exact name of your mortgagee is not included in the drop-down list you will need to type in the correct full name of the mortgagee instead of making a selection.
Changes to the mortgagee drop down list
T.E.A. Custodians Limited, TEA Custodians (Pacific) Limited and TEA Custodians (Interstar) Limited currently exist in the drop down list of mortgagees. LINZ is in the process of adding the remaining 'TEA' companies to the list as well as FM Custodians Limited and GE Custodians.
The additional companies and their quick codes are:
- FM Custodians Limited FMC1
- GE Custodians GEC1
- T.E.A. Custodians (Seniorcare) Limited TCS1
- TEA Custodians (Bluestone) Limited TCB1
- TEA Custodians (CHPT) Limited TCC1
- TEA Custodians (Equitable) Limited TCE1
- TEA Custodians (Kauri) Limited TCK1
- TEA Custodians (Oceania) Limited TCO1
We will also be removing WPAC Westpac Banking Corporation from the drop down list. If this name is still required to be entered for a mortgagee it can be done by manually entering the name in full.
A list of current quick codes is available on the Landonline website.
The quick codes are also listed in Landonline Help but these can only be updated each time a new release of Landonline is implemented. The updated list will be included in the 2.9 Release scheduled for May 2007.
e-dealing uptake on the rise
For the month of December last year, e-dealing usage reached a record 74.8%. This was followed by an expected drop in the statistics for January as paper transactions from the Christmas period trickled over into the new year.
LINZ's Acting General Manager Customer Services, Brian Usherwood, reported that the trend of increased e-lodgement continued but stressed that this trend needed to carry on well into 2007 for firms to be ready to meet the first 100% e-lodgement deadline of 1 May 2007.
The result also illustrated considerable regional differences in e-dealing usage. Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin had excellent results late last year with usage at 92.6%, 90% and 88% respectively. This was in contrast to the Auckland usage rate of 53.3%.
Mr Usherwood was pleased with the uptake and the trend that it represented, but was concerned that some firms were still not e-dealing where it was possible to do so.
"The comments that we keep getting from conveyancers show that they are frustrated by wanting to use e-dealing but are being prevented from doing so by solicitors on the other side of the transaction. It's a real concern to us at LINZ that some firms are putting themselves and their conveyancing business at risk by not getting on with this."
Mr Usherwood said LINZ was keen to hear about any firms that are not e-dealing so they can be contacted and supported through the process.
"We'd like to help anyone having issues in using e-dealing. Any firms who come across someone not e-dealing yet should let us know so we can help sort out the problems and get them underway," he said.
If your firm would like some assistance preparing for 1 May 2007, call 0800 665 463 or go to www.landonline.govt.nz and find out about your training and support options.
Other facts about customer uptake
- 90% of conveyancing practitioners are using Landonline
- Almost 80% of conveyancing practitioners are using e-dealing to lodge more than 50% of all their e-capable transactions
e-dealing training update
LINZ's free e-dealing training ended on 30 November 2006. Several firms have shown an interest in catching up with their own training or training new staff in the use of Landonline.
If you require assisance in preparing for 1 May 2007, or want to find out about all your training and support options, visit www.landonline.govt.nz or call 0800 665 463.
Territorial Authorities
TAs experience the benefits of TA e-certification
Territorial Authorities (TAs) around the country continue to show a keen interest in TA e-certification.
As at the end of January 2007, 32 TAs now have licences.
LINZ recently spoke to several TAs that have successfully made the TA e-certification leap about some of the key benefits and requirements for getting set up in Landonline.
Some key benefits of TA e-certification
The TAs were generally enthusiastic about the application and are finding that it saves time especially on the necessary administrative tasks compared with the manual system. Other benefits they highlighted included:
- Time and cost effective with quicker lodgement of documents and surveys
- Being able to provide a better service to customers
- Not having to handle incoming and outgoing plans
- Easier and faster processing of plans
- Better security
- Time savings in not having to send out letters or copy foil plans
- "Keeping up with the times"
Getting set up in Landonline
Some TAs found that having an inhouse 'champion' greatly assisted the successful implementation of TA e-certification. That person had the ability and enthusiasm to take the process through their TA from the initial decision to implementation and use of the application.
There are several aspects that TAs need to consider when implementing TA e-certification, however, these generally fit into four main areas:
- Making the decision. Most of the TAs consulted said that they chose to take up TA e-certification to provide a better service to their customers. Other decisions included plan signing delegations and who would be using the application.
- Document management. Recording documentation once it has been certified varies for each TA and the best way to manage survey plan images post e-certification needs to be considered.
- IT environment and security. The TAs spoken to generally had no problem downloading Landonline software as they involved inhouse IT staff in the early stages. Digital Certificates are the key to Landonline's security and all users must have one – this part of the process needs to be managed carefully as Digital Certificates cannot be shared.
- Business processes. Change management requirements vary from TA to TA and may depend on the authority's size. Adoption of TA e-certification prompted some to review their certification processes resulting in considerable efficiency gains. Only a few had issues when changing their processes and these mostly related to administrative changes.
Upcoming articles in Landwrap will focus on various technical and application aspects being faced by TAs as they take up TA e-certification.
How do TAs sign up to TA e-certification?
If your TA is interested in finding out more about TA e-certification, email your contact details to info@linz.govt.nz or ring 0800 665 463 (select option 2), and LINZ's Customer Support staff will help get you started.
