LINZ News

Christchurch surveyor hits Landonline milestone

Christchurch survey firm, Survus Consultants, hit a milestone in December last year when they created LT 400000 in Landonline.

LT 400000 was initiated by part-time surveyor Sarah Hickman on 19 December. "I was surprised when it popped up on my PC because I only work two days a week. The chances of me reaching such a milestone would have to be slim," says Sarah.

The first Landonline plan was also created in the South Island. DP 300000 was initiated in Otago on 1 March 2000.

Landonline

Landonline Release 3.0 overview

Release 3.0 is still currently aiming for late March 2008. It continues the journey to 100% e-lodgement for conveyancers with the addition of functionality to handle complex e-dealing transactions. This Release will also include some suggested changes that support e-survey.

Some changes affect all customers. The use of 'complex passwords' will become mandatory to help ensure the ongoing security of Landonline.

The first time you reset your password after Release 3.0, you will need to use a combination of lower and uppercase letters and numbers and ensure your password is between eight (8) characters and a maximum of twenty (20) characters.

For conveyancers, Release 3.0 primarily delivers:

• more flexibility with the ability to complete complex transactions within current Disharge, Transfer and Mortgage instruments electronically
• the ability to add information to certain instruments using the Add Text or Add Image buttons
• two new instruments – Transfer of Lease and Transfer of Mortgage.

Go to Landonline Release 3.0 update for conveyancers on the Landonline website for more detailed information.

LINZ will again be holding road shows to introduce conveyancing professionals to the new functionality for e-dealing. See the article Release 3.0 road show – coming to a town near you! in this Landwrap.

For surveyors, Release 3.0 will focus on improving some existing internal and external system processes. This is additional to continuing work on the design phase of the Offline Plan Generation with Diagram Creation option proposed for May 2009.

Changes to Landonline Passwords coming

Passwords are an important layer of security for customers logging into and accessing Landonline. Release 3.0 will enforce the use of more complex passwords and introduce a password history.

These changes will comply with password security requirements specified by the State Services Commission (SSC) and help to ensure the ongoing security of Landonline. See Landonline Release 3.0 Overview in this edition of Landwrap.

Understanding the changes

Secure passwords are essential to maintain the security of Landonline data, associated transactions and personal information.

To minimise the likelihood of unauthorised access, customers are automatically locked out after multiple incorrect attempts at entering a password. Passwords are also required to be changed every 90 days to help secure the system against repeated unauthorised access attempts over a longer period. This also helps to reduce the risk of passwords being compromised by poor password management.

As a first step towards meeting SSC requirements, the last Landonline release (2.10) increased the minimum password length, requiring that the length of all new or changed passwords be a minimum of eight (8) characters and a maximum of ten (10) characters. Other changes included reporting a customer's last login time and date (visible to the customer after a successful login), and increasing the range of special characters allowed when entering a new or changed password.

Release 3.0 will contain three other password security enhancements:

• More complex passwords will be required.
  All new or changed passwords will require inclusion of at least one lowercase character, at least one uppercase character, and at least one numeric digit.
• A password history will be implemented.
  All new or changed passwords will be logged (and encrypted), and the system will prevent customers from re-using any password previously logged against their User ID.
• Passwords will increase to a maximum of twenty (20) characters.

Note that these changes do not apply to passphrases, which are used when importing your Digital Certificate and in certifying or signing transactions. This is because a password is required to enter Landonline, i.e. before any functionality is available that requires a passphrase. Passphrases will continue to be between eight (8) and ninety-nine (99) characters long and do not require change, except as part of the annual renewal of a Digital Certificate.

Reminder: Landonline and Customer Support unavailable on Saturday 23 February

Earlier this week, customers were advised by email that Landonline and Customer Support will be unavailable on Saturday, 23 February 2008 so that LINZ can upgrade the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) environment. The PKI environment is used to issue and maintain Digital Certificates for Landonline customers and also forms part of the security of Landonline that ensures it is only accessed by authenicated customers. This change will ensure currency of the environment and ongoing support by our supplier.

There will be no changes to the Landonline application and customers will not experience any changes as a result of this upgrade.

Landonline and Customer Support will resume normal service hours from 7am on Monday 25 February.

As with any changes, implementation of the upgraded PKI environment is subject to successful testing.

The upgrade of the PKI environment is part of a planned programme of work over the next three months to ensure currency of key infrastructure of Landonline. For more information, refer to the article Still No. 1 priority – Landonline performance and stability in the December 2007 edition of Landwrap.

Microsoft advise auto-update to Internet Explorer 7

Microsoft has advised that they will roll out an Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) package on 12 February 2008. This rollout package will make IE7 available as broadly as possible to all Windows users, including those without a legitimate copy of Windows XP to undertake the upgrade. It does not impact those customers who already have IE7.

LINZ does support Landonline running on IE7, however, you need to make an adjustment to your configuration in order to do so. You are only required to make this adjustment once per user (i.e. initially) to access Landonline using IE7.

More information is available in the System support section on the Landonline website.

Regulatory

Proposed Rules for Cadastral Survey – Risk Assessment

During the recent presentations on the proposed Rules for Cadastral Survey, the Surveyor-General advised that he intended publishing a document that identified the risks associated with each of the proposed Rules. Any suggestions for changes to the proposed Rules should take into consideration the associated risks to the cadastral objectives.

The Risk Assessment document is now available, together with the Consultation Booklet, on the LINZ website.

The proposed Rules consultation documents can be found at www.linz.govt.nz/sg-rules-review.

In the November/December 2007 edition of Landwrap, LINZ announced an extension to the period for public comment on the proposed Rules. Comments on the draft Rules are now due by Saturday, 1 March 2008 and should be made using the comments form and emailed to regulatorysubmissions@linz.govt.nz.

Property Law Act comes into force

The Property Law Act 2007 came into force on 1 January 2008 with the purpose of restating, reforming and codifying aspects of law relating to real and personal property.

It repeals and replaces the Property Law Act 1952 as well as amending other pieces of legislation including some provisions in the land transfer Act 1952.

Although it's a large piece of legislation, it's more evolutionary than revolutionary in nature, particularly from a land transfer perspective.

The most significant aspects from that standpoint are set out below.

Mortgagee exercising power of sale (sections 176-202)

A new feature is the wider power conferred on the Court to assist in the exercise of power of sale by mortgagees. The Court can now make orders that vest land, discharge interests and direct execution and lodgement of instruments. Many of those orders can be registered and they have effect as though they were instruments executed by mortgagees and other interest-holders.

Termination of lease on occurrence of event (section 212)

This provision modifies the common law rule that requires the term of a lease to be certain from the outset.

It allows a lease to terminate on the occurrence of a future event so long as that event can be identified when it happens. Such a lease will however automatically terminate on the 10th anniversary of its commencement if the event has not occurred by that date.

It should be noted that such leases cannot be registered under the Land Transfer Act unless they are leases for life.

Sublease for the same or a longer term than its head lease (section 215)

This is another new provision dealing with subleases with terms that do not conform to the common law rule that requires them to have terms shorter than their head leases. While it does not authorise such subleases, it acknowledges that they do not amount to an assignment of their head leases and it sets out a code for dealing with the consequences.

The law automatically shortens the term of a sublease that exceeds the term of its head lease to make that term the same as that for the head lease. Such subleases are however not capable of registration under the Land Transfer Act.

By necessary implication, subleases that have the same term as their head leases are now capable of registration.

Surrender of head lease whilst sublease is current (section 216)

A head lease that is still subject to a sublease may now be surrendered and replaced without the prior surrender of the sublease.

The provision presumes, however, that the surrender of the old head lease and the creation of the new head lease in its place will occur simultaneously.

The consequence from a registration perspective is that:

• the surrender of the head lease must immediately be followed by a new head lease for the same land to the same lessee
• the affected sublessee must consent to the surrender under s120(5) Land Transfer Act, and
• the requirements of s117(1) Land Transfer Act must be met.

Relief against cancellation of a lease (part 4 subpart 6)

Under s121 of the Land Transfer Act, a lessor may re-enter possession of the leased premises and extinguish a lease and other interests registered against that lease.

The lessee and other affected parties may seek relief from the Court against such cancellation. Under s257 of the new Act, the Court is able to make an order granting relief the effect of which may be to reinstate the extinguished lease and other rights or interests notwithstanding that they may have been removed from the register.

It should be noted, however, that any such reinstatement operates from the date of registration of the Court order, which means that any interests registered between cancellation and reinstatement will remain and retain their priority.

e-survey

New risk-based acceptance framework for cadastral survey datasets – profiles

As advised in the November/December Landwrap, a project is underway to introduce a new risk-based acceptance framework for validating cadastral survey datasets. This project aligns with LINZ's optimal regulation principles: "as little as possible, as much as necessary", as well as a broader, risk-based audit strategy approach.

Landonline automated business rules help surveyors identify and address any compliance issues before lodgement giving even greater confidence in the 100% e-survey environment that the data submitted is correct.

The new framework will determine the level of LINZ validation resource applied to each dataset. It will focus on the complexity of each dataset and the lodging surveyor's profile. These will be determined by the following:

• Dataset complexity will be estimated by the surveyor – based on criteria provided by LINZ.
• Surveyor profiles will be established by LINZ – based on past information including requisition statistics, Surveyor-General reviews and audits.

Individual profiles are currently being evaluated and will be sent out to respective surveyors in February 2008.

Profiles of all surveyors in any one firm will be made available to that firm's managing or principal surveyor, on request. Details of how to request this profile information will be provided to each survey firm in February, through their Landonline Trusted Contact.

The new framework will be implemented by the end of March 2008. We will provide more information in February's edition of Landwrap.

Geodetic activities

LINZ is responsible for developing and maintaining New Zealand's geodetic system, which underpins the efficient operation of the cadastral system. It enables surveyors to obtain bearing and coordinate origins for cadastral surveys and facilitates the integration of data into the Survey-Accurate Digital Cadastre (SDC).

To keep surveyors up to date with what LINZ is doing in the geodetic area, Landwrap will now have a regular section focusing on geodetic activities. An increased understanding of the geodetic system will help surveyors complete cadastral surveys more efficiently. It will also enable those who are interested to provide feedback (via info@linz.govt.nz) on what LINZ is doing to ensure the geodetic system is meeting the needs of surveyors.

Diagram: The town of Waverley, South Taranaki, with the approximate locations of proposed intervisible NZGD2000 control marks

Most urban areas are well served with NZGD2000 geodetic control. However, there are a number of smaller towns and townships where control is lacking. Each year the LINZ Geodetic Survey Programme brings NZGD2000 control into such areas by surveying reliable cadastral marks with a Global Positioning System (GPS). Usually, the new NZGD2000 control does not need to be intervisible (i.e. clear visibility between marks), since a cadastral bearing origin may be obtained by the adoption of NZGD1949 bearings.

However, where there is no NZGD1949 data in the area being surveyed, the adoption approach is not possible and intervisibility of NZGD2000 marks becomes more important. Added to this is the fact that Global Navigation Satellite System technologies that do not require intervisibility, such as GPS, are less practical in some urban areas.

Because of these factors, and as a result of feedback from surveyors, LINZ is trialling an approach as part of this year's Geodetic Survey Programme that will see intervisible NZGD2000 marks surveyed in some urban areas where there is no existing NZGD1949 data. This will ensure that surveyors can obtain NZGD2000 origin using a total station.

The new approach requires a greater density of marks than would normally be the case. So for the town of Waverley, shown in the diagram, nine NZGD2000 marks will be surveyed, rather than the four that would normally be surveyed for a town of this size.

For further information, email info@linz.govt.nz and put Geodetic in the subject line.

New e-survey tips and hints

The e-survey Tips and Hints on the Landonline website are continually being refined and added to.

Creating marginal strips

Are you having problems creating marginal strips? See e-survey tip and hint Movable Marginal Strips - capturing in Landonline.

Labels in layout sheets

In layout sheets, mark symbols are treated as labels. To ensure these are not hidden by mistake when hiding other labels, turn off the mark symbol layer via the Menu options at the top left of the layout screen.

If you have accidentally hidden a label and want to find it among other labels, use the coordinate tool to select the mark where the label should be and move the mark. The label will move with the mark and be easily identifiable to unhide.

Users can only do this if the labels are in the unhidden mode i.e. greyed out on layout sheets. If they are hidden i.e. not visible at all then this cannot be done.

See Appendix O: e-survey Plan Generation screen information in the e-survey user guide for other Menu options.

Also see article Hiding/unhiding labels in e-survey in the October edition of Landwrap.

Are you using the e-survey best practice tools and tips?

Do use the new self-help information available in the e-survey section, which is ordered by the experience level of the surveyor - novice, experienced and advanced.

Spanning a wide range of topics, the best practice section includes the tips and hints full index.

The e-survey training resources section has all the links and background on training materials provided by LINZ such as the user guide, computer based training (CBT) DVD and the support available to surveyors.

e-dealing

Release 3.0 road show – coming to a town near you!

Now that most people have returned from their summer holidays, it's time to start thinking about what's happening in 2008. It's going to be an exciting year for Landonline with the goal of 100% e-lodgement in sight.

LINZ is getting the ball rolling with Release 3.0 currently scheduled for late March. This release will allow conveyancers to add text and images to certain instruments enabling all Discharges, Transfers and Mortgages to be e-capable.

To help prepare you for these changes, LINZ is holding a national road show in March/April. Two people from your firm will be able to attend presentations demonstrating the changes and how they can be incorporated into your every day business practice. We recommend you send someone with certify and sign privileges and your e-dealing champion. Your e-dealing champion can then train your conveyancing professionals to use the new functionality.

Presentation invitations will be sent by email to firms in late February, with a link to a registration page. Make sure you register early to receive your pre-reading pack to help you get the most out of the presentation.

"You're dragging me into the 21st Century!"

"You're dragging me into the 21st Century!" This comment made by Carlile Dowling partner, Michael Morgan, at the LINZ Release 2.10 roadshow in Napier was intriguing because at 44, Michael is still young.

Michael explains: "Unlike some people, I don't enjoy technology for its own sake. There needs to be a reason for me to invest the time and energy in learning to use it. The early stage e-dealing functionality has impacted most significantly upon simple transactions. To date it has been more efficient to have younger practitioners and legal executives in our firm deal with those matters, or at least the search and registration aspects. With additional functionality being regularly introduced, the incentive and need for me to get to grips with e-dealing is far stronger now.

"In the past, I've been able to get away with occasionally creating an e-dealing so that I can keep up my knowledge on how it works, but I think with the new functionality being introduced, I'd like to become more familiar with the process.

"Even though I'm still learning, the ability to pre-validate means it's hard to make a mistake, which is reassuring for me. At our team meetings, we discuss any LINZ rejections. Since the inception of online registration, we haven't had much to talk about!"

When asked about the changes that have come into effect, Michael says: "the new Certify and Sign process is a great time saver and the Release 2.10 presentation exceeded my expectations. I will certainly attend the next release presentation.

"I think Release 3.0 is going to be a real winner. The ability to transfer part titles and shares using e-dealing will be especially useful."

So it looks like being 'dragged into the 21st Century' is an enjoyable learning curve for Michael who is not only learning to master Landonline but intends to purchase a PDA (personal digital assistant) so that he can access his daily schedules and send and receive emails. Michael admits that he doesn't know anything about downloading music and wishes he could buy a cell phone that didn't have all the extra functions.

"I just want a phone that can text and call people. Cameras on phones end up taking photos of the inside of my pockets…that's not helpful, it's just annoying!"

Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services, says: "There are many of us who are amazed and sometimes slightly intimidated by the pace and functionality that new technologies bring, be it PDAs, Bluetooth devices for phones, or functionality that changes paper processes into electronic lodgement such as e-dealing.

"It's important to send representatives from your firms to our Release 3.0 presentations being held in April so that you get to see first hand what changes are being made and how these impact your firms' business processes."

e-dealing watch points for practitioners

e-dealing watch points are continually being added to. You will find these and links to other e-dealing related articles on the Landonline website.

• Caveator's consent certification where prior withdrawal of caveat is to be lodged
• Beware of removing a withdrawal of caveat
• Reminder about last minute changes to an e-dealing

Caveator's consent certification where prior withdrawal of caveat is to be lodged

For guidance on dealing with caveator's consent requirements for e-dealings, see article Caveator's consent certification where prior withdrawal of caveat is to be lodged, which was a late addition to the November/December 2007 Landwrap.

Beware of removing a withdrawal of caveat

Conveyancers need to be aware that if they delete an instrument such as a withdrawal of caveat from their signed dealing, it may have an impact on any following instruments in the dealing. If the withdrawal of caveat is removed, the caveator's consent certification will then be required. While the withdrawal of caveat remains in the dealing, the caveator's consent certification is suppressed.

This highlights the importance of pre-validating prior to submitting. Pre-validation will fail in those circumstances and the report will show that the caveator's consent certification will be required.

Reminder about last minute changes to an e-dealing

Ideally, the Certify and Sign process should occur as soon as the solicitor holds all the necessary documentation to make the certifications, which could be a week or more prior to settlement.

There are many firms intentionally delaying such signing until the last minute due to the frustrating experience in previous transactions of having their certifications removed due to changes made by the other side.

A necessary safeguard of the Landonline system is that it is impossible for a certified and signed instrument to be registered in anything other than the exact form that it was signed. That goes to the heart of the non-repudiation aspect of e-dealing.

Any change made by the other side (or anyone) will remove the certifications and necessitate resigning by the solicitor. A clear warning message is displayed if any attempt is made to change a signed instrument, advising that any certifications will be removed if a change is made.

Please extend a professional courtesy to the other side and carefully consider the need to make the change. Yes, clients change their minds, but solicitors need to manage how and when that occurs.

You would not send a replacement transfer to a vendor on settlement day and demand it to be signed on that same day. The same analogy applies to electronic instruments: if they have been certified and signed by the other side, you cannot make unilateral changes on settlement day and expect re-signing on that same day.

Previously published February 2006 in the Property Law Section on the New Zealand Law Society website.

Editing/adding to A&I forms in 'Print Preview'

Release 2.10 introduced the Authority & Instruction (A&I) form as part of the Landonline system, enabling automatic generation of the form.

The preparation screen 'Create A&I Form' does not contain reference to the 'Date and Nature of Base Document' (e.g. for noting that the transaction is derived from an Agreement for Sale and Purchase dated). The same applies to 'Name of Other Party'.

Many users of the A&I form don't realise that it's possible to edit or add in the Print Preview option as most other applications do not allow edit in that view. Some users have reported it's often more expedient to add the necessary detail while in Print Preview and print from there, rather than saving the file to your own computer.

Actions you can take to add information:

1. You can save the A&I form to your own computer (Save to file) then edit and print.
2. Or, you can simply edit or add information while in the 'Print Preview' view of the A&I and then either save to your computer and/or print.

Landwrap

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