LINZ News

In brief

• April figures for electronic lodgements:
  • A total of 447 law firms out of a possible 1265 lodged an e-dealing in April. 447 firms also lodged an e-dealing in March, but April, with Easter and Anzac day, had fewer working days than any other month this year, and 14 of those firms lodging were first time e-dealers.
  • The e-dealing share of the total e-dealing-capable lodgements sat at 24.5% in April (up 1.9 percentage points from March). There has been a 36% increase in e-dealing instruments lodged in the past six months.
  • A total of 132 survey firms out of a possible 320 lodged an e-survey in April. Despite the small number of working days in April, this is four more than in March. Eight survey firms were first time e-survey lodgers in April.
  • The e-survey share of the total survey lodgements was 45.5% for April (up 2.9 percentage points from March).
• The Landonline website redevelopment is scheduled to be rolled out in July. This will include more user-friendly site architecture and an improved logon page that takes users to the Landonline application. Customers will also still be able to logon to the Landonline application directly at this url: https://logon.landonline.govt.nz. Further details will be published in the next Landwrap.
• New Zealand Post's eBill service is closing as of 12 June 2006. Customers who currently use eBill to pay Landonline charges have been contacted individually. LINZ is offering them an alternative payment option of direct debits. To set up a direct debit, please email info@linz.govt.nz to request a direct debit form in pdf format.

Landonline

Future-proofing Landonline – Image storage

To store images, Landonline has used a combination of two systems – the Filenet Image server and attached Optical Disk jukeboxes – for a number of years. Now, we're moving to Centera, which uses Write Once, Read Many (WORM) technology. This type of technology has become the industry standard for storing images.

How the current system works

The Optical Disk jukeboxes are stacks of optical discs (like CDs or DVDs) on which images are stored. There are a number of drives (like the CD drive on your computer) that read the information on those optical discs.

Because there are many more requests for images than there are drives, those requests cannot all be answered immediately, which means users could be waiting for some time before they see the image they want.

To overcome this, Landonline has a cache, which is a type of memory that stores files (in this case, a copy of all the information on the optical discs) ready for use. The cache makes it possible to access the image files much more quickly.

The new system

Centera is more like the hard-drive on your computer, except that it can't be erased. Moving to Centera means that accessing images stored in Landonline will be more direct.

Benefits

• With the current system, if there is an outage and the cache has to be re-built, it can take up to two weeks for that re-build to be complete. This is because of the physical process it has to go through and the comparatively small number of drives available. Retrieving images would be comparatively slow for those two weeks. With Centera, that cache can be re-built within 72 hours.
• The files are currently backed up (the data is replicated to a different site) every night. With Centera, that data replication can happen in near real-time. This means that if there is an issue with Landonline, there is even less chance of data being lost.
• Landonline's Storage Area Network (SAN) is made by the same organisation that makes Centera. Moving to Centera will help LINZ standardise our technology across the platform, and this reduces the chance of possible issues.
• When compared to Filenet and Optical disc, Centera is easier to manage. Again, this should lead to fewer issues and a more efficient service to customers overall.

Completion

Work has recently begun on installing the new hardware. There is a huge amount of data that needs to be transferred from the old system to the new, and this transfer is scheduled to happen before the end of the year.

Landonline Fees and Charges

The fees and charges for Landonline services have remained the same for the past two years. They currently include discounted rates on certain services, funded through the memorandum account, which were designed to encourage customers to make use of Landonline.

With the Government's decision to move to a 100% electronic lodgement environment, LINZ has to ensure that all fees necessary to allow for 100% e-lodgement of all land title transactions and survey plans are in place, and are set at the right levels, by September 2007. These fees will be lower than the fees would be for manual lodgement if manual lodgement processes were retained, however fees for electronic transactions will increase over current electronic fees.

A working party has been convened to undertake this project. It includes representatives from the NZ Institute of Surveyors (Barry Sayer), and from the NZ Law Society (Kim Oelofse).

Regulatory

Survey Plan Lodgement in A3 Format

Surveyors can now submit hard-copy plans on A3 size sheets of any robust drawing material. Previously, the only option was to submit plans on A2 Tritex sheets – and, if they wish, surveyors can continue to submit plans in that format.

The new option is detailed on the new Interim Standard for Hard-Copy Plan Format, which is available on the LINZ website.

TL Survey Services are happy with the change

Steve Copson of TL Survey Services in Dunedin participated in a pilot group to see if there would be any issues with the standard's implementation.

Steve says: "The new A3 plans are so much quicker and easier to generate. It's a huge benefit for us, especially as we are working on some of the Tenure Review plans, and they can be huge. What would have taken several days to produce we can now do much more quickly."

The new standard specifies that the line weights, text sizes and symbology on A3 sheets must be proportionately smaller than on A2 sheets. Did TL Survey Services find this difficult? "No," Steve says. "We use an A3 laser printer, which we set to print at the right widths. We also included two different scales on each plan so that they could be viewed in either A2 or A3 without any problems."

The new standard doesn't specify what a 'robust material' might be. Were there any issues around trying to decide what LINZ would or would not accept? Steve says, "It was a case of making a product that was logical. The biggest impact was the shift from A2 to A3 - the different medium didn't matter, except that with a paper plan, there's no detectable difference between the original and a copy. The way we see it, the hard copy we produce is the vehicle for submitting plans. As long as we have one copy with a signature, that's all we need."

Does Steve have any advice for other firms? "The new standard is a huge bonus; it has made life considerably easier. If you don't already have one, get a decent A3 laser printer."

Surveyor-General, Don Grant, says that Steve's approach is exactly right. "The purpose of the new standard is to provide flexibility, to give surveying firms the ability to decide for themselves how to meet the required outcomes. We need to ensure that users can obtain clear and readable images of the plans from Landonline. Therefore, the hard-copy plans need to remain in good condition until processing is complete and they have been scanned into Landonline. So if surveyors want to continue to submit plans on A2 sized sheets, then that's fine, but there are now other options available."

e-survey

LINZ supports Survey Schools

Otago University's Survey School had a vision. In 2001, they were teaching students e-searching and how to extract spatial data, with the intention of moving towards a full e-survey course. With assistance from LINZ, Otago ran this e-survey course for the first time in 2005.

With the Government's decision to move towards 100% electronic lodgement, it is more important than ever for LINZ to assist surveyors at all levels to become familiar with e-survey. Survey students are an obvious group to help; they embrace new technology easily, and they will take their skills with them into the workplace.

The cost of setting up and maintaining the 30 Landonline licences Otago needed could have proved prohibitive. However, because the Survey School doesn't use the e-survey licences for commercial gain - and because doing so does not create additional costs for LINZ - we have been able to offer them a number of licences and the maintenance of those licences for free. This means that the University can provide Landonline access to all those students who need it at a significant saving.

The 2006 class of 55 students of Otago University's Survey School have also received free training, delivered by LINZ's Daniel Weston (Dunedin Office) and Miriam Tinkler (Senior Business Analyst, Wellington) on two consecutive Wednesdays, the 5th and the 12th of April.

Miriam says, "The students received a complete e-survey overview delivered over one day in only one three hour session. It should help them complete their coursework, and the knowledge gained from that should enable them to more easily find positions with firms."

The students have purchased Digital Certificates, allowing them to use Landonline within the University's secure computer environment, the GIS Spatial Laboratory. (They will have to transfer their Digital Certificates when they join surveying firms.)

Nor is Otago University the only educational institution that will receive our support; they're simply the first. When other survey schools start teaching e-survey, we will naturally do all we can to assist them as well.

New print to TIFF image driver

There is a new print to TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) image driver available for Landonline users to download, free of charge, from the Landonline website. It will enable surveyors to convert scanned images of supporting documents (e.g. letters, occupation diagrams etc.) into .tif files for lodgement within Landonline.

The previous print to TIFF image driver is still available at the above link; if you are using Windows 95, 98 or ME as your operating system, this is still the TIFF driver you need to use. But there's a good chance it won't work with later operating systems.

This is because Microsoft brought out a security patch which prevents the original TIFF driver from working. That security patch is available for the later operating systems, so if you use one of these (Windows NT, 2000 or XP), you should use the new driver.

(Please note: LINZ recommends Windows 2000 Pro or Windows XP Pro. LINZ offers comprehensive support for both of these operating systems.)

You can find detailed information on how to download either TIFF driver, as well as instructions for creating .tif files here.

Surveyors and TAs working together

The number of e-surveys being submitted is increasing on a monthly basis. In turn, Territorial Authorities (TAs) are embracing electronic certification. As 100% e-lodgement draws nearer, more and more TAs and surveying firms will be working together to decide how best to approach the transition; some have already taken significant steps along that path.

The first e-certification region

Pamela Gare, Principal Planning Officer of Invercargill City council, has championed the implementation of TA e-certification in her region. The idea was to get all district councils in her area (including the Southland District, Invercargill City and Gore District councils) working together with the local surveyors to agree upon a consistent certification approach, and then implement that process.

She said that the planning stage is all complete and the implementation is going very well.

The councils already had a number of shared systems, and as each of them has a commitment to sharing resources in the interests of efficiency, e-certification was the logical choice.

But that wasn't the only reason. The area has some unique characteristics, not least of which is the surveying community the councils service. There are four main surveying firms (as well as a handful of others), each of which operate in all districts. The councils have good relationships with the surveyors, and to ask them to submit manually to one council and electronically to another would have been unreasonable.

Instead, they met with the surveyors and agreed that e-lodgement was the best solution for all involved. Not only would it work well with the councils' technology vision, but it would benefit the surveyors because it would be both cheaper and quicker.

When asked if there had been any issues, Pamela replied that the biggest difficulty had been that the councils used a terminal server system, which wouldn't support the Landonline security system. They had to install stand alone pcs on which to use Landonline. And that meant there was a cost involved. That cost must eventually be reflected in fees, says Pamela.

Another, more minor issue was getting used to the Landonline logging in process, which is quite complex. Pamela acknowledged that the process needs to be complex to protect the data within the system, and said that "it's all right after you've done it a couple of times".

All in all, the councils are very happy with the way things have gone. They encourage other councils to make the switch to e-certification and offer the following two pieces of advice:

1. talk to your IT team to determine how to make it all possible, and
2. work with the surveyors in your area to establish the new processes.

e-dealing

Search Agents: what can they do?

Some of you may have received an email containing an article detailing what search agents and other service providers are able to do, and what remains the province of qualified conveyancers (lawyers or landbrokers). The full article can be read below.

Information for Law Firms and Search Agents or Other Providers

The following transactions can only be lodged with LINZ electronically from the dates shown below:

Discharges	1 May 2007
All Transfer & Mortgage types currently e-dealing capable	1 August 2007
All remaining title transactions	1 July 2008

All land and property title transactions will be processed electronically from 1 July 2008. LINZ has worked closely with solicitors and conveyancing professionals to ensure that law firms will have the information and training they need to manage their conveyancing operations using electronic lodgement of title transactions.

They will do this by using an electronic product – e-dealing – that is accessed through Landonline, New Zealand's only authoritative database containing the titles register and digital cadastre.

This information provides guidelines for:

• Law firms who may be considering options for outsourcing parts of the e-dealing process to e-dealing service providers
• e-dealing service providers who are invited by law firms to prepare parts of conveyancing documents

Does e-dealing change current business processes for title transactions?

The process of e-dealing mirrors the paper process, as demonstrated in this image.

What are some of the considerations when law firms and e-dealing service providers work together?

Some law firms may choose to use search agents or other providers to prepare parts of conveyancing documents using e-dealing. Under this type of arrangement, the role of the solicitor in the law firm is the conveyancing professional – the same as with any other conveyancing: the person who certifies and signs an instrument before it is submitted for registration. A conveyancing professional must be a lawyer with a current practising certificate under the Law Practictioners Act or a landbroker already licensed by the Registrar-General of Land. No other person can certify e-dealings.

When a law firm uses an e-dealing service provider to prepare parts of conveyancing documents using e-dealing, the agent's role is that of the Landonline Primary Contact or outbound legal executive. This is the person responsible for the clerical or administrative aspects of the e-dealing process such as preparation of instruments, and possibly the release of instruments following settlement and final submission of the dealing for registration.

The table below provides guidance about arrangements that would allow law firms to outsource the preparatory aspects of the e-dealing process. It is easy as long as the parties are all clear about their responsibilities.

Requirements	Considerations for outsourced e-dealing service providers	Considerations for law firms
Licences	The service provider must have an e-search or e-search plus licence to undertake searches in Landonline. If you offer e-dealing services for law firms, you will need access to e-dealing and to get this, you will need to be listed as an authorised user on the e-dealing licence of each law firm you act for. It is the law firms' responsibility to add you to their licence.	Law firms need to have an e-dealing or e-dealing plus licence. Law firms who use outsourced e-dealing service providers need to add the service provider as an authorised user to their licence/s before the provider can perform these services.
Digital Certificates	If you provide e-dealing services for law firms, your staff who do this work must have their Digital Certificates associated to the e-dealing licence of the law firms they act for. It is the law firms' responsibility to arrange this. e-dealing service providers have no rights to certify and sign an instrument and cannot alter the Register, but only set up the documentation for the solicitor.	Law firms must set up a Digital Certificate with Certify and Sign (also known as 'signing correct') privileges for solicitors who will act on behalf of clients who are buying or selling property. The solicitor acting on behalf of the client is still responsible for the e-dealing step of Certify and Signing. Law firms who wish to use outsourced e-dealing service providers will need to grant Primary Contact privileges to each of the provider's staff who will provide these services to their firm.
Landonline compliance review	These responsibilities rest with law firms, not e-dealing service providers.	Solicitors must ensure they retain the supporting documentation to meet Landonline compliance requirements (refer to Registrar-General of Land fact sheet and New Zealand Law Society Guidelines).

The table below provides guidance about the arrangements needed for training the staff of e-dealing service providers and law firms who work together to use e-dealing.

Recommendations	Considerations for outsourced e-dealing service providers	Considerations for law firms
e-dealing training	All staff of an e-dealing service provider who perform the Primary Contact role for a law firm should have undertaken the e-dealing training module for legal executives. The prerequisite for this training is that each staff member must have a Digital Certificate associated to the licenses of the law firms you deal with. It is the law firms' responsibility to do this.	Where a law firm chooses to use e-dealing service providers, the firm needs to associate the Digital Certificates of the service provider's staff to its e-dealing or e-dealing plus licence, so that the staff are eligible for training.

LINZ has developed a training schedule to ensure all new Landonline firms' users have the opportunity to receive free training this year. This is a substantial, nation-wide programme with training delivery planned across New Zealand.

Firms need to register for training to ensure spaces are reserved for dates and times when our trainers are in your area.

How do I get more information?

To register for free e-dealing training, contact linzinfo@linz.govt.nz as soon as possible. Training ends in November 2006.

Please note that before training bookings can be confirmed, e-dealing service providers need to be listed as an authorised user on the licences of the law firm they provide services to, and the service providers' Digital Certificates need to be associated with those law firms too.

For any other queries, go to the 100% e-lodgement InfoCentre or contact the New Zealand Law Society e-dealing consultant on 0800 885 510 or e-dealing.consultant@lawyers.org.nz.

Purpose of this information

The purpose of this information is to provide general guidance where law firms and e-dealing service providers work together. LINZ does not advocate or promote any particular business model. Law firms need to decide for themselves whether or not such arrangements are appropriate for their purposes and make their own assessment of the risks and business benefits.

e-dealing

e-dealing – getting the simple things right

All e-dealing users need to be careful when entering details into Landonline. This is because a solicitor preparing documents in the e-dealing workspace has the same responsibility for ensuring the correct details are included as that solicitor would have in preparing a paper document. If any information is not correct then, as with a paper document, the risk and responsibility lies with the solicitor to take steps to correct it. With e-dealing, however, this can be a very straight-forward process.

Guidelines for entering mortgagee names:

In some instances, mortgagee names are being incorrectly entered on the Certificate of Title when an e-dealing mortgage is registered. Only the legal name of the mortgagee should be entered (e.g. the Company's registered name). This will avoid problems arising when discharging the mortgage.

Here are a few tips to remember when entering mortgagees:

• Where possible, use the Mortgagee Quick Codes or use the drop down menu for the mortgagee on the Prepare Mortgage screen.
• If the exact name of your mortgagee is not included in the drop down list, then you will need to type in the correct full name of the mortgagee instead of making a selection.
• Enter the mortgagee names as they are shown in the mortgage document or letter of instruction from the bank (i.e. if the mortgagee name starts with "The" make sure you enter "The").
• Additional information (e.g. location of the registered office or details of the registration or incorporation) that is included on the paper mortgage should not be included in the mortgagee field. For example, "The Manchester Unity regional Credit Union at Napier (the society)" should be entered only as "The Manchester Unity Regional Credit Union".
• Do not include references to trusts when entering the mortgagee name, as this contravenes Section 128(1) of the Land Transfer Act 1952.
• The word "Limited" forms part of a company name, when entering a mortgagee be sure to include it. For example, although many people refer to "ASB Bank" the correct name is "ASB Bank Limited".
• Make sure when you choose the mortgagee from the drop down menu or quick codes that you select the correct one. Some mortgagees have several companies with similar names (e.g. TEA Custodians (Interstar) Limited, TEA Custodians (Bluestar) Limited etc).
• Re-check your spelling. Ask a colleague to have a quick glance over your mortgage to check for errors.

Guidelines for entering title-holder's names:

Names are also occasionally entered incorrectly. The following few tips will help when entering title holder's names:

• In the Create Dealing screen of Landonline, you need to enter the forename first and the surname last (e.g. Jane Smith), as this is how the name will appear on the title.
• To ensure you get the spelling correct, make sure that you check the title-holder's name against the title-holder's proof of identity.
• If you make an error, there are several places (e.g. in the Certify and Sign screen) where you can see and correct it. You can also look at the Detailed Structured Text view to confirm that everything is correct.

The 'Fencing Covenant' check-box:

When creating an e-dealing, users will occasionally tick the Fencing Covenant check-box by mistake. If this happens, a memorial will also show on the title. You can see if you've made this error on any instrument view screen – there will be an extra line of text at the top.

Last opportunity for free e-dealing training

Conveyancing professionals are strongly encouraged to book their free e-dealing training now. LINZ's free training programme for e-dealing ends in November 2006, and the schedule is filling up quickly.

June training bookings for Auckland City and Wellington City are now closed. Some dates are still available in Auckland City from 3-19 July and Wellington City from 3-5 July. To book training, please contact the training bookings team at linzinfo@linz.govt.nz.

Other areas in which bookings will soon close:

• Christchurch
• Feilding
• Foxton
• Lower Hutt
• Marton
• Masterton
• North Shore
• Oamaru
• Palmerston North
• Paraparaumu
• Raetihi
• Taihape
• Taumaranui
• Upper Hutt
• Waikanae
• Wanganui

If your firm is in one of these areas, LINZ recommends that you book your training now to avoid missing out. Fax your completed training registration form to 04 460 0548, or contact the training bookings team at linzinfo@linz.govt.nz.

Landwrap

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