LINZ News

News

June figures for electronic lodgements

• A total of 195 survey firms out of a possible 343 lodged an e-survey in June. Four of those firms lodging were first time users.
• Customer uptake of e-survey was 69.6%* for June. Despite a decrease of 1.3 percent from May, the volume of e-survey lodgements continues to increase. Paper lodgements being made in response to the 'transition' letter sent out in March 2007 had an impact on the e-survey results, which we expect to change as paper plan lodgements decrease.
• A total of 1,200 law firms out of a possible 1,456 lodged an e-dealing in June. Twenty-two of those firms lodging were first time users.
• Customer uptake of e-dealing for Transfers and Mortgages reached 81.9% in June. This is an increase of 7.7 percentage points from May and is on track for the 1 August 2007 mandatory date. Customer uptake of Transfers is 80.2% and Mortgages is 83.8%.

* HOT OFF THE PRESS - customer uptake of e-survey in July was 76.3%.

Postal lodgement processing for Wellington, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne on the move

From 1 August 2007, LINZ will move postal lodgement processing for the Wellington, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne land districts from the Wellington Processing Centre to the Christchurch Processing Centre.

Customers should post their lodgements for these areas directly to the Christchurch Processing Centre. The address is:

Christchurch Processing Centre
Private Bag 4721
Christchurch 8140

Counter lodgements will continue to be processed in Wellington.

Otago and Southland postal lodgements now processed in Christchurch

As advised in the April 2007 edition of Landwrap, postal lodgement processing for the Otago/Southland land districts moved from the Dunedin Processing Centre to the Christchurch Processing Centre (address above).

Upper North Island postal lodgements now processed in Auckland

As advised in the November/December 2006 edition of Landwrap, processing of postal lodgements for the Taranaki and South Auckland land districts moved from the Hamilton Processing Centre to the Auckland Processing Centre. The address is:

Auckland Processing Centre
Private Bag 92-016
Auckland 1142

Sending requests to processing centres

Landonline customers sometimes contact a LINZ processing centre more than once with the same request, i.e. faxing the request then putting it in the post. Such requests specifically cover:

• corrections to computer registers
• time extensions
• withdrawals
• urgent plan processing

The best way to send these requests for all processing centres is by email to:

• Northern Area Processing at Hamilton@linz.govt.nz, or
• Southern Area Processing at Christchurch@linz.govt.nz

These email addresses are preferred to emails to individual staff as it will ensure your request receives a timely response from the right person.

Note: Northern Area Processing covers the Hamilton and Auckland areas, and Southern Area Processing covers Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

If you do choose to fax your request to a processing centre, please do not then put a duplicate in the post.

For all other queries, call Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463) or email info@linz.govt.nz.

Landonline

New product and service fees and charges now available

LINZ recently sent Landonline customers the new schedule and accompanying fact sheet outlining the new fees and charges for survey, title, search, and certification products and services.

The new fees will come into effect on 1 September 2007. Early notification is intended to give customers time to factor the new fees and charges into business processes and planning.

If you didn't receive it or would like more copies, the schedule and fact sheet can be accessed from the Pricing section of the Landonline website.

How are fees and charges set?

Governance for fees and charges includes a Steering Committee and a Working Party with representation from the New Zealand Law Society and the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors. LINZ also consulted with the Institute of Cadastral Surveying on this fees review.

The costs of running the Landonline system, its development, and all survey and title processing, operate on a cost recovery model. LINZ needs to recover all costs that directly relate to the delivery of the products and services (i.e. 'marginal costs'), and the costs incurred irrespective of the volume of products and services delivered (i.e. 'residual costs'). There is no profit margin added to LINZ' fees and charges.

Individual fees are arrived at through applying formulae based on the cost of each activity involved in the supply of each product or service. Costs are derived from the following inputs:

• Staff verification model – details the tasks that form each activity and the time it takes to perform each task (and therefore each activity). This in turn determines the number and skillsets required of staff to meet demand
• Bill of activities – allocates the relevant activities to each product or service
• ABC cost allocation model – builds the costs of products and services based on the activities and staff time
• Forecasting model – forecasts future demand for products and services

Example A: The basic fee for a survey is $216, which is determined by:

Example B: Survey easement fee

LINZ has historically not charged a fee for existing easements, even though checks are performed on them. To bring this into line with LINZ' policy of recovering all costs relating to the delivery of a service, it is appropriate to charge customers a fee for both new and existing easements.

New easements have always been charged by each individual segment or location identified for an easement; existing easements will follow the same principle.

LINZ checks are performed to ensure that for:

• All easements:
  • the easement is spatially captured
  • it passes Landonline topology rules
  • intersection points with Primary and other Secondary Parcels are correct, and
  • Balance Distances are captured.

• New easements:
  • the Shown and Servient Tenements are correct.

• Existing easements:
  • easements shown on the Certificate of Title have been shown on the plan or noted in the Survey Report to be surrendered
  • the Nature of an easement is shown, and
  • the Servient Tenement and Document are correct.

All the above checks are included in the fee.

The fees and charges development process to collect data, model results and forecasts has taken about eight months. After stakeholders were officially consulted on the final recommendations (this occurred in April 2007), an Order in Council was prepared for Cabinet sign-off. The new regulations will be gazetted 28 days prior to the new fees coming into effect.

Landonline Release 2.10

The Landonline application is continuously updated through a series of releases that take advantage of changes in technology, help make the system more robust, and reflect changes suggested to help make Landonline easier to use. Release 2.10 continues the journey to 100% e-lodgement and is scheduled for October 2007.

Some changes affect all customers. There will be a change to the way all customers update their details using a web form rather than the Maintain User Screen and Maintain Firm Screen in Landonline. This will ensure changes are recorded in multiple locations in LINZ.

We will also be introducing the mandatory use of 'complex password'. These are passwords that use a combination of lower case, uppercase, numbers and symbols.

For conveyancers

Release 2.10 primarily focusses on delivering some new functionality as well as making more changes to the layout of e-dealing screens in preparation for the later introduction of new e-dealing instruments. These changes include:

• Certify and Sign – a change to the current Certify and Sign process for conveyancers allowing signing of multiple instruments in a one-step process
• Authority and Instruction (A&I) forms – Landonline will now generate A&I forms
• Updates for Prepare screens (e.g. instrument screens)
• Updates for Create Dealing

For surveyors

Release 2.10 primarily focusses on making changes to existing functionality to improve ease of use and performance in some areas, as well as positioning Landonline for technology upgrades. These changes include:

• Landonline will be able to support more than one version of LandXML provided by 3rd party software; this allows for potential changes
• Updates to allow surveyors to print plans prior to submitting for TA approval – this will support a requirement for some firms to use printed copies of plans for audit and quality purposes
• Updates to the Mark and Observation report
• Updates to the Survey Headers

The next issue of Landwrap will provide more detail of the changes that customers will experience as a result of Release 2.10.

Landonline's message centre now has more functionality

As advised in the March edition of Landwrap, we have further improved the layout and design of the Landonine message centre to make it easier to read and use.

The following changes are now in place:

• A new summary message area indicates when a new message has been posted. You can click on the 'read more' to get full details.
• On the Landonline logon page, citrix-related messages will now appear in a dedicated grey area of the message centre.
• On the Landonline Logon page you will notice some changes to the layout of the page. While the information remains the same, the layout and design of the citrix logon page is consistent with the Landonline website.

The message centre has three levels of colour-coded availability to let Landonline customers know what is happening with the system, as follows:

• Landonline is available (full functionality – green): Customers are able to access and have full functionality of Landonline.
• Landonline is available (but customers may experience some variability – blue): Landonline is available but there is an issue customers need to be alerted to that impacts on full functionality/service.
• Landonline not available (red): Customers are not able to access Landonline; either the database is not working or the logon is locked off.

To ensure you are able to see the changes, 'refresh' your favourites or links to the Landonline website and logon page.

If you have any queries, please contact Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463).

What can I do if my session on Landonline seems slow?

There are a number of reasons why your session on Landonline can seem slow. Finding out where there could be speed bottlenecks can help you to improve your Landonline experience.

There are three key areas to consider:

1. Between your PC and the internet
2. Between the internet and Landonline
3. Within Landonline itself

The following examines each in turn and highlights things you can do.

1. Between your PC and the internet

An easy way to check for a speed bottleneck between your PC and the internet is to use a speed test tool. An example is the one at www.consumerspeedtest.org.nz. Your own Internet Service Provider (ISP) may have a similar tool. It can give you a good indication of how fast you can download (get data to your PC) and upload data (send data from your PC). Customers' experience of speed can change all the time and the speed test will assist with determining your current speed.

How slow is too slow? There is no definitive threshold. However, depending on the ISP plan you are on, we recommend that you contact your ISP if your broadband is below 128Kbps (Kilobits per second) download and 64Kbps upload (which is 50% of the lowest advertised broadband speeds in New Zealand).

2. Between the internet and Landonline

If after running a speed test your download and upload speeds look okay but Landonline seems slow, there are two things you can do:

1. You could ask your ISP to do a simple test to route to the address 'logon.landonline.govt.nz'. By doing so, they can check that there are no issues with their network from your PC to Landonline's firewall.
2. You should also call LINZ Customer Support on 0800 665 463 as we continually monitor for bottlenecks between Landonline and Landonline's ISP. Customer Support can help pinpoint where bottlenecks might be occurring between your PC and Landonline.

3. Within Landonline itself

LINZ has tools to help us actively search for bottlenecks within Landonline that cover a range of customer and technical areas. LINZ takes remedial action whenever any performance problems are found. You can help to isolate any possible slowness by having the following information available when calling Customer Support:

• When did the problem occur?
• What was the transaction ID or Landonline number?
• Is Landonline slow in all areas you are using, or just a particular function?
• What is the Landonline module number? (This can be found in the title bar)
• Has this happened before?
• How long, or how frequently, have you been experiencing this?
• Have you identified your upload and download speed?

Summary

If your session seems to be running slowly:

1. Use a speed test tool such as www.consumerspeedtest.org.nz to test for a bottleneck between your PC and the internet. If your speeds are slow, we recommend you contact your ISP.
2. If your download and upload speeds are acceptable, call 0800 665 463 (0800 ONLINE) with detailed information about when and where you have been experiencing session slowness.

Specifications for scanners

LINZ recently wrote to conveyancing customers outlining the technical requirements for scanners and scanning software to help prepare for new releases of Landonline. The new releases will enable complex title transactions to be lodged.

The first step is to provide the required scanner specifications to your current or proposed technology supplier.

The scanner specifications are available in the Technical Info and Requirements section of the Landonline website.

Prior to Release 3.0 (which is scheduled for early 2008), we will provide you with further information about scanners and how you can attach images to your e-dealing.

Note: These scanner specifications are consistent with scanners already being used by surveyors.

Regulatory

Cross leases and mortgagee consents

When a new cross lease is presented for registration, it must be accompanied by the consent of every mortgagee of a share of the fee-simple estate affected by the cross lease. This includes every fee-simple share comprised in an existing cross-lease composite title.

The same requirement, and the following comments, also applies to mortgagees of shares in a head-lease when a leasehold estate is being cross leased.

The relevant provision is section 115(4) of the Land Transfer Act 1952 (LTA):

"(4) If the land or estate or interest to be leased is subject to a mortgage, the consent of the mortgagee must be obtained."

A cross lease involves all of the undivided shares in the fee-simple estate. In a 'staged' development, where one or more flats have already been leased and are comprised in composite titles, a new cross lease affects the fee-simple shares comprised in all of those composite titles as well as the 'balance' share titles. This is evident from the fact that all of the shareholding proprietors are lessors, and that the new cross lease will be noted against all of the titles issued for fee-simple titles, including existing composite titles.

A new cross lease is vulnerable to a mortgagee sale under any prior registered mortgage affecting any fee-simple share, including any fee-simple share comprised in another existing composite title, unless the mortgagee consented to the new cross lease. This is the effect of s119 (Lease not binding on mortgagee without consent) and s105 (Transfer by mortgagee) of the LTA, which was discussed in Butterworths' Conveyancing Bulletin 'Cross-leases and the Mortgagee's Power of Sale' (4 BCB 123) and confirmed by the Court of Appeal's decision in Harman & Co v Secureland Mortgage Investments Nominees Ltd ([1992] 2 NZLR 416).

Until 2002, mortgagees produced the certificates of title for mortgaged fee-simple shares for the express purpose of enabling a new cross lease to be registered, which amounted to the mortgagees' consent to the creation of the new leasehold interest.

However, since duplicate certificates of title were cancelled in 2002 (Gazette 2002 p3895), the only way to ensure new cross leases will not be vulnerable to mortgagee sales under prior registered mortgages, is for the consent of the mortgagee to be obtained. Section 115(4) requiring mortgagee consent to new leases was deliberately added to the LTA in 2002 for this reason.

e-survey

What's on the radar for e-survey?

As advised in the May edition of Landwrap, LINZ is focussing on several key e-survey areas. These are additional to 'business as usual' e-survey activities over the next six months, including upcoming Landonline releases.

In the next two months, we will progress the following key activities:

• Plan generation – in particular, looking at options to improve the quality of output from plan generation. We will consult with the survey community in August and will provide further information on the Landonline website, Landwrap and the message centre.
• Landonline connectivity and system performance – this will include several streams of work to ensure connectivity (crashes, disconnects, timeouts) and performance degradation are minimised. It will cover factors both external (i.e. at the customer's end) and internal (i.e. the Landonline application).
  
  Some initial work has been done and is outlined in the article What can I do if my session on Landonline seems slow? in this edition of Landwrap. In the meantime, it is important surveyors continue to contact 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463) when they experience performance issues to ensure we can analyse the information as part of this work.

Other areas we will be focussing on:

• A project is underway to make the e-survey enhancement/prioritisation list more accessible to surveyors. We will be working with stakeholder representatives on the development of the list and how best to communicate it to the survey community, given its complexity.
• Developing comprehensive web-based modules to help surveyors deal with complex topics such as natural boundaries and stratum titles within Landonline.
• Exploring opportunities to help surveyors get their plans through e-survey first time.

e-survey lodgements reach a record high

Surveyors have every reason to congratulate themselves with the national usage of e-survey reaching 81.4% for the week beginning 16 July. This is the highest recorded level of e-survey so far.

Some regions continue to go from strength to strength with Christchurch usage now at 90.4%, the highest in the country, up 7% since May. Areas with low usage such as Auckland and Hamilton will be the focus of the newly appointed e-survey liaison, Chad Keir, who aims to assist these regions increase their uptake to the national level (Chad is profiled in this issue of Landwrap).

With the first mandatory date weeks away, LINZ is confident the day will pass without issue as e-survey uptake continues to increase. Most customers are using e-survey for all their new plans, which is an excellent result.

Paper plan processing

In March, we advised surveyors that paper plans had to be submitted prior to 1 September. This allowed firms time to talk with clients about the need to submit any paper plans already underway prior to 1 September, while highlighting the need to convert any outstanding paper plans to e-survey following the mandatory date.

Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services, said there has been a strong response from surveyors. "It's great that firms are preparing for 1 September. Since March, we have seen a considerable increase in paper plans, although this will mean customers may experience some delay in our processing timeframes."

e-survey plans are less affected by these delays as processing of electronic lodgements is prioritised. "Our processing centre staff are focussing on ensuring that any delay is kept to a minimum and we appreciate the patience of survey firms as we work this through," Sharon said.

Some plans have been held in survey offices for a long time. Lodging plans prior to 1 September is more about saving customers money in the long run rather than having to redo a plan as an e-survey. Phil Lash of Reyburn & Bryant in Whangarei said "We have about 30 paper plans to lodge over the next month. There may be one or two that are urgent but most customers know that the process for land development takes time and should not be unduly affected by extended LINZ processing."

"We realise that delays in processing times could impact surveyors' clients if a decision on a plan is required urgently," said Sharon. "Our timeframes to process a plan are 10 business days for e-survey and 20 business days for a paper lodgement. Where these timeframes have been exceeded and urgency is required, customers should contact their local processing centre."

Call Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463) if you would like any information about urgent processing requests.

Extension to survey re-submission fee waiver

September 1 is a key date for the survey community and we want to assist surveyors, particularly latecomers to e-survey, as much as possible through the transition phase.

We have therefore extended the survey re-submission fee waiver until 31 March 2008 to support surveyors as they become familiar with e-survey and implement new business processes.

LINZ wants to ensure that the learning journey for surveyors as 100% e-lodgement approaches is well supported.

New e-survey liaison role

Chad Keir, LINZ's new e-survey liaison

e-survey users now have their own dedicated liaison point within LINZ. We welcome Chad Keir as our newly appointed e-survey liaison. Chad's main responsibility is to help surveyors reach the goal of 100% e-lodgement. He will provide surveyors throughout the country with further e-survey expertise during the transition from paper to 100% electronic lodgement, which takes effect on 1 September 2007.

Chad comes well qualified for the role with 11 years experience as a registered Professional Surveyor. He has worked in Tauranga and Dunedin, and is now based in Taupo. He brings with him a wealth of e-survey knowledge having been a user since 2004. Chad says, "I'm really looking forward to providing information to surveyors that will help them overcome any barriers preventing them from 100% e-lodgement."

Chad will be focussed on assisting firms in Auckland who are late adopters of e-survey. While the Customer Uptake figures of e-survey in the Auckland region are the lowest in the country at 52.5%, it's a myth that Auckland is too busy to use e-survey. Thirty-two firms in Auckland are using e-survey at 100% and lodging all their plans electronically.

Chad says, "There are 44 firms that are low users of e-survey and these are our key focus. I want to identify the main issues for these surveyors and help address them prior to 1 September."

It's great to have a surveyor's perspective and skillset to assist firms successfully implement e-survey into their business.

Exception process for e-survey

Some surveyors have asked for more information about LINZ' Exception process and how it works.

Surveyors need to be aware of possible underlying data issues when working in non-SDC areas (i.e. significantly distorted underlying data) and contact Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463) as early as possible if they have any queries.

The Exception process is a specific Landonline process that can be initiated by a surveyor when a fatal conflict (e.g. a fatal topology business rule error) prevents e-lodgement. These fatal conflicts more commonly occur in non-SDC (Survey-accurate Digital Cadastre) areas.

During submission of an e-survey, Landonline runs a series of business rules to test compliance of the e-survey against standards and Landonline requirements. In the event of a fatal topology business rule error, submission is prevented and the option of using the Exception process becomes available to the surveyor at this point.

When the Exception process is invoked, Landonline initiates an Exception Request for LINZ and places the e-survey on hold in the surveyor's workspace. LINZ then confirms the cause of the error, rectifies it if it's a Landonline issue and advises the surveyor.

Invoking the Exception process will not workflow the e-survey to LINZ for validation or approval.

For screenshots outlining the steps in the Exception process, see Exception process – e-survey in the e-survey Tips and Hints section of the Landonline website.

Further information on the Exception process is also included in the Surveying Education section of the Landonline website.

LINZ is currently reviewing the way the Exception process is managed to provide more clarity for surveyors and LINZ staff. We will update you on this work in the September issue of Landwrap.

New e-survey tips, hints and FAQs

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

Capture of new appellations – LandXML files and manual capture

All new appellations should be captured in the Appellation Format of 'General'. See Capture of New Appellations on how to do this correctly in LandXML files and during manual capture.

Filtering Observations in Landonline

By filtering Observations in Landonline, you can:

• adopt Observations for an e-survey from existing data in Landonline
• adopt a previous survey for a compiled plan, and
• show only Observations for a specific plan.

Are you using the e-survey tools and tips?

There is a wealth of self-help information on the Landonline website to assist surveyors complete an e-survey.

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 searching any topic.

e-dealing

1 August 2007 – it's just business as usual

1 August is here, which means it's now mandatory for all e-capable transfers and mortgages to be lodged electronically. Many firms advised that the day would pass as any other business day because they are well prepared and lodging everything they can.

"Now that I'm using e-dealing, it's easier to complete all transfers and mortgages. I'm looking forward to when everything can be done electronically" says Kay Smith at Swan Law in Whangarei.

Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services, says that in June, customer uptake of e-dealing for transfers and mortgages reached 81.9%. "Most customers are using e-dealing at every opportunity and, given that some transactions are not yet e-capable, this is an excellent result. We are on the right path toward reaching our goal of 100% e-lodgement."

Preparation for the journey ahead will be critical for firms' continued implementation success. "Putting the right policies in place at the start meant that the transition was much easier," explains Marie Rollason from Buddle Finlay in Wellington. Buddle Finlay centralise the preparation of e-dealing in their Wellington office. This allows for expertise to be developed with the e-dealing application and assists the firm to manage compliance, control accuracy and ensure customers receive a faster response. Marie says "The main benefit of using e-dealing is that it saves time – pre-validation lets me know instantly if the information is incorrect. There were a few sleepless nights in the beginning but now I feel really confident using Landonline."

Appointing an e-dealing 'champion' in the firm is also helpful, someone who can relay information to everyone about changes to Landonline. LINZ advises that it's really important for firms to understand when new functionality will be introduced – release updates sent out a month in advance of the release contain valuable information about what to expect.

Hesketh Henry, a law firm in Auckland, appointed 'champions' within their firm at both the legal and secretarial levels. "This provides a point of contact for conveyancers within the firm," says Joanna Pidgeon. "There's a lot of fantastic help available within the firm, through other firms and through Customer Support at LINZ."

LINZ is committed to ensuring all firms are prepared for upcoming releases as we move to 100% e-lodgement. For further information on how you can prepare for these releases, see our website or call Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463).

e-dealing watch points for practitioners

Conveyancing firms are making great use of e-dealing and, on the whole, transactions are being completed without a hitch. Now and then, however, issues arise that practitioners need to look out for.

You will find these and links to other e-dealing related articles in the e-dealing FAQs and general information section of the Landonline website.

Correcting names in the Land Titles Register

Sometimes a conveyancing professional notices a name is misspelt on the Land Titles Register. Depending on the situation, LINZ offers the following advice on how best to deal with this:

1. If the misspelt name is clearly a LINZ error (e.g. a paper transfer has been entered incorrectly) you can complete a Record Correction Request.
2. If the misspelt name was not a LINZ error, then generally you will need to request a change or correction of name under regulation 26 of the Land Transfer Regulations 2002. (At present this request must be presented as a paper document.)
3. If a transferee's name was misspelt in a transfer completed by e-dealing then the transferee's conveyancing professional may submit another transfer by e-dealing from the proprietor in his or her misspelt name to his or her correct name. Note that:
   • the existing client Authority and Instruction form (A&I) is sufficient, and
   • ensure a statutory declaration or file note with an explanation is held with the A&I.
4. If the error in the original transfer means the mortgagor's name is misspelt in a following mortgage, it is not a LINZ requirement for the mortgagor's name to be corrected. However, if the conveyancing professional considers it is necessary then the following will be required:
   • obtain a discharge of the mortgage from the mortgagee and register it by e-dealing, and
   • prepare and submit a new mortgage, relying on the original mortgagee authority.
5. If a mortgagee's name was misspelt in a mortgage completed by e-dealing then the mortgagee's conveyancing professional will need to:
   • request a change or correction of name (see 2. above), or
   • obtain a discharge of the mortgage and submit a new mortgage (see 4. above).
6. If a proprietor or mortgagee with a misspelt name is going off the register by an e-dealing (e.g. by transfer or by discharge of mortgage) then this can be done without having to correct the name in the register. The A&I should be signed in the correct name and accompanying evidence showing the correct name along with a statutory declaration stating why it differs from the spelling on the register should be held with the A&I.

Linking a Primary Contact and Conveyancing Professional

To save time when creating a new dealing, you may wish to set your preferences to link your name (as the Primary Contact) to the Conveyancing Professional who would normally certify and sign your transactions. Below are the steps to follow to set your preferences:

Step 1

Step 2

When the screen opens, click on the Preferences tab.

Step 3

Click on the drop down arrow in the Conveyancing Professional Firm.

Step 4

Select your firm's name.

Step 5

Select the Conveyancing Professional's name from the drop-down list in the Conveyancing Professional field.

Note: Only conveyancing professionals who have certify and sign capability in Landonline from your firm will be displayed in the list.

Step 6

Click to Save and Close the screen.

Note: Following this process will mean that the details entered will become the default information so when you next create an e-dealing these details will automatically be generated for you. If you wish to change the Conveyancing Professional or Primary Contact, repeat the above steps.

Territorial Authorities

TA e-certification uptake grows as 100% e-lodgement date nears

Forty-five Territorial Authorities (TAs) now have TA e-certification licences.

As 1 September nears when all surveys will be lodged electronically, about 30 more TAs have decided to reap the benefits of being part of the end-to-end electronic process and have committed to training.

"These TAs can see the efficiency gains they will make by removing the administrative tasks of receiving, processing and storing paper survey plans," says Jan Lawrence, LINZ's TA e-certification Product and Service Owner.

"TAs that have already been certifying electronically have found that the security of plan lodgement is increased, which in turns increases the integrity of the system. E-certification also improves the speed at which TAs can process certificates such as section 223 RMA certificates. Many already using e-certification have reported that it's time and cost effective for them."

LINZ has provided mentoring for TAs that have requested help in getting enabled in e-certification and assessing the impacts on their current business systems and processes. Mike Gillooly, previously from Christchurch City Council, has been in direct contact with many TAs, taking them through the processes and discussing how to incorporate it into their business.

"More TAs are realising that e-certification is the way to go, particularly as all surveys will be electronic from 1 September," says Mike.

Mike says that TAs need to consider such things as delegations, changing businesses processes, their IT environment and document management. "In my experience, the decision making process can take longer in larger TAs," he says.

To help make the transition to an electronic environment as smooth as possible, we have developed a number of business implementation tools covering aspects that TAs need to consider to successfully implement TA e-certification in their organisations.

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 ONLINE (665 463) and LINZ's Customer Support staff will help get you started.

Landwrap

Landwrap is the authoritative news and information source for survey and title customers.

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