LINZ News

Landonline and Customer Support's Christmas and New Year hours

With only two months to go until the end of the year, firms will be finalising their staffing schedules for Christmas break.

Landonline and Customer Support will be operating normal business hours leading up to the Christmas holidays.

On Monday, 24 December 2007 both Landonline and Customer Support are scheduled to close at an earlier time of 5pm (as opposed to 9pm) and will be available again in the New Year from 7am on Thursday, 3 January 2008.

LINZ's Processing Centres will also close for business on 24 December at 4pm and will re-open at 9am on 3 January.

Landwrap – a 100% e-lodgement 'must read'

Now that e-survey and e-dealing are mandatory and more Territorial Authorities are certifying online, it's crucial that LINZ keeps all Landonline users up to date with Landonline and related information.

Monthly e-zine Landwrap is LINZ's authoritative news and information publication that carries all the relevant operational, product and service information firms and individuals need in a timely manner.

Landwrap covers new and updated topics such as:

• Landonline updates, release details and other system information
• Technical information
• System support
• Regulatory information, changes and rulings
• Survey, title and certification processing
• New web information available on the Landonline website
• Fees and charges information
• Links to self-help, training and other user resources
• Practical tips, hints and information tailored for Landonline users
• News and upcoming events
• Case studies

To ensure that Landwrap reaches you each month, it's important your contact details are kept current. You can change individual or firm details easily on the Landonline website.

Have your say on the proposed new Rules for Cadastral Survey

LINZ has released a draft of the Surveyor-General's Rules for Cadastral Survey and is seeking feedback from interested parties such as:

• the surveying community
• conveyancers
• Territorial Authorities
• those involved in land development and property management
• managers of tenure systems
• the public.

The deadline for responses is 1 February 2008.

Draft Rules and background information available now

Read information about the review and the consultation process, and download the draft Rules for Cadastral Survey.

Presentations on the proposed Rules underway

LINZ is conducting a series of presentations in conjunction with the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors to provide background information about the review and explain significant changes in the proposed new Rules.

LINZ lines up at the survey congress

LINZ's commitment to the future of surveying in New Zealand will be evident at the 9th South-East Asian Survey Congress being held in Christchurch at the end of October.

The largest, most prestigious international congress of surveying professionals to ever be held in New Zealand will examine the principles of sustainability in land development.

Several LINZ presenters will discuss key topics around the congress theme. Surveyor-General Don Grant says it's a great opportunity to not only showcase what New Zealand is doing in surveying but also see what others are accomplishing.

"We're looking forward to presenting our work, talking to overseas experts and benefiting from their knowledge and experience," says Don.

The programme runs from Tuesday 30 October to Friday 2 November. LINZ will participate in concurrent sessions and workshops on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Following is a brief outline of our presentations.

Tuesday 30 October, 1.00-3.00 pm

• Don Grant, Surveyor-General
  New Surveyor-General's Rules for Cadastral Survey

The proposed new Rules for Cadastral Survey are being developed from the base up resulting in some significant changes. The draft Rules were reviewed and further developed by an Expert Committee. Public consultation of the Expert Committee's proposed Rules (with surveyors and other affected parties) is currently underway. Don will discuss the more significant changes proposed during his presentation.

• Noel Miranda, Manager Regulatory QA
  A holistic approach to cadastral survey quality

A new approach to assuring that cadastral surveys meet the standards set by the Surveyor-General under the Cadastral Survey Act has been implemented in New Zealand. It is based on a holistic approach where the office and field procedures of a Licensed Cadastral Surveyor's firm are assessed. Noel will talk about the experiences of the new audit methodology from the viewpoints of the Surveyor-General, auditors and the audited firms.

• Jeremy Palmer, Data Analyst Geodetic
  A unified GPS post-processing service for Australia and New Zealand

Geoscience Australia and LINZ jointly decided in 2006 to create a unified GPS post-processing system. Australia currently provides an online GPS processing service (AUSPOS) that allows users to submit dual frequency geodetic quality GPS data via the internet and receive back precise coordinates with rapid turn-around. The new system will have the same design as AUSPOS but will use Bernese for GPS processing. LINZ, as part of the new post-processing service, will generate authoritative and consistent NZGD2000 coordinates using the PositioNZ network. Jeremy will review components of the processing logic, application services and expected accuracy.

Thursday 1 November, 1.00-3.00pm

• Brendan Boyle, Chief Executive
  100% e-lodgement – Landonline leading the way

Brendan will discuss how Landonline and 100% e-lodgement have changed surveying practise, how we are leading the way with the world's first fully electronic survey and title registration system, and the collaborative journey undertaken to get there. How LINZ is responding to new technologies to leverage initiatives in the topographic, geodetic and hydrographic fields will be covered. Part of this response is LINZ positioning itself to be a knowledge broker.

• Matt Amos, Senior Advisor Geodesy
  A changing approach to geodetic networks and standards

Historically, geodetic networks in New Zealand were defined by how they were observed with the technology of the day. The focus now is on what the geodetic system is trying to achieve, the accuracy and other characteristics required of it, and less on changing the 'how to' of geodetic survey technology. Matt will briefly describe the changes to geodetic networks and standards over time and how new network design philosophy will affect the New Zealand geodetic system. In particular, he will discuss the proposed New Zealand Geodetic Network Standard in relation to the types and numbers of marks that LINZ will maintain for the users of the networks.

• Nic Donnelly, Data Analyst Geodetic
  The development of a modern geodetic system: NZGD2000

Since the New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000 (NZGD2000) was introduced, there has been considerable development of the geodetic network. Nic will examine some of these developments and what they mean for those dealing with spatial data, e.g. the PositioNZ network of permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations and the new geoid model NZGeoid05. He will focus on the increasing use of GNSS in cadastral surveys, and how the geodetic system could be developed to better use technology and support user requirements.

• John Spittal, Manager National Topographic/Hydrograpic Authority
  An electronic future: a new era for nautical charting

The International Maritime Organisation has introduced new rules regarding the use of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs). New Zealand, along with other countries, will be issuing new ENCs next year. John will outline the developments currently being undertaken in LINZ and describe some of the regulatory implications for both hydrographers and ships' navigators. He will report ENC decisions made by the XVII International Hydrographic Organisation Conference held in Monaco in May 2007. He will also describe the future direction of electronic charting and some of the unique issues the Pacific region faces so that it can contribute to world coverage.

• Rachelle Winefield, Data Analyst Geodetic
  Evaluation of the LINZ Fiordland Deformation Model

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake near Secretary Island, Fiordland in 2003 severely impacted the local geodetic network. The current deformation model is not designed to make corrections for localised deformation events such as earthquakes. Research has been carried out into applying localised deformation models to sections of cadastral and/or geodetic networks that may have been affected by a localised deformation event such as an earthquake. Rachelle will talk about how the post-earthquake data was used to determine if a Localised Deformation Model could be combined with the National Deformation Model to provide sufficiently accurate coordinates to meet cadastral accuracy standards.

For more information on the 9th South-East Asian Survey Congress, see the article in last month's Landwrap or visit http://www.conference.co.nz/index.cfm/surveyors2007.

Landonline

Release 2.10 – successful and issue free

Release 2.10 was successfully implemented on Monday, 8 October 2007 and the release process went smoothly.

"The success of this release can be attributed to learnings and improvements adopted from previous experience," says LINZ's Customer Systems Manager Ron Munro. "Our continuous Landonline infrastructure upgrades undertaken by the Performance Taskforce and Programme Technology streams, and investment in our test platforms and processes including testing undertaken by external customers have also improved release implementation." (See Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3 in this edition of Landwrap.)

Customer Support had a busy two days on Monday and Tuesday (8-9 October) answering over 1,000 calls while maintaining customer service levels. Most of these calls were about changes in e-dealing functionality and resetting passwords. Release 2.10 introduced complex passwords as part of Landonline's security. This change highlighted some previous inconsistencies, meaning some customers had to have their passwords reset.

Release 2.10 also recommended that all signing customers (conveyancers, surveyors and TA staff) upgrade their signing software to Digisign2. This was to allow new functionality introduced in Release 2.10 enabling conveyancers to certify and sign multiple instruments once in a dealing, and to ensure all signing customers were on the software version supported by LINZ.

Ron says, "Over 2,800 customers downloaded the two megabyte file in the first two days, most taking less than a minute to install the software. More than 850 downloads were completed without issue on Monday before 9am. We were expecting early high volumes and increased capacity accordingly."

Presentations on Release 2.10 were delivered by LINZ throughout the country to conveyancers before and after the release date. The presentations received a positive response with nearly 2,000 legal representatives attending 88 presentations delivered in 24 locations over six weeks.

Common questions raised and LINZ's answers are covered in the story Release 2.10 road show wrap up in this edition of Landwrap.

LINZ's Landonline operating system and browser policy reminder

Landonline customers must ensure they are using operating systems and browsers that are supported by LINZ. By doing so, customers can be assured they can access and use the functionality within Landonline as supported operating systems and browsers are tested with the development and changes to Landonline. They can also get help with queries from Customer Support.

Please refer to LINZ's system support policies for more information on what operating systems and browsers support the running of Landonline software.

Note that while Microsoft VISTA is not currently supported by LINZ, work is underway to test VISTA with Landonline. Testing a new operating system's relationship to all the components of Landonline is a complex area requiring a carefully staged process. Only the Business and Ultimate versions of VISTA will be tested with Landonline.

We hope to give you an update in next month's Landwrap.

Regulatory

Life Estate and Lease for Life – Application for Determination

The Land Transfer Act 1952 and Land Transfer Regulations 2002 provide for the registration of life estates and leases for life, but do not provide clear direction on registration requirements when life tenants die.

The Registrar-General of Land's registration requirements are now set out in an Interim Ruling, on the LINZ website. These requirements must be followed from 1 November 2007.

e-survey

What you said – Plan Generation consultation

In September we invited cadastral surveyors, survey technicians, stakeholders and any staff who create, edit or submit survey and title plans in Landonline to provide feedback on a range of options to improve the creation and editing of survey and title plans in Landonline.

Participation was exceptional with 263 responses, of which 210 were from individuals and 53 were on behalf of an organisation. Analysis shows high, medium and low volume e-survey users were well represented, as well as those who delegate survey tasks. We also analysed responses in relation to respondents' experience in plan layout based on the complexity, size and volume of plans they had completed.

LINZ would like to thank the survey community for the level and quality of your participation in this successful online consultation.

The results

Overwhelmingly, respondents from across all groups voted for Option E: Offline Plan Layout (includes diagram creation) as the most preferred option and the second most preferred option (39% and 32% respectively).

In relation to Option E, respondents also advised:

• it rated highly for providing efficiency (reducing the overall time and effort required to prepare a plan) and capability (improving the functionality and usability of Plan Generation)
• three quarters of respondents (77%) would use it with all plans
• only a third of respondents wanted an interim solution of which Option D: Offline Plan Layout (excludes diagram creation) was the most preferred, and
• most respondents considered auto validation rules being applied to plan layout sheets in any solution provided by LINZ as very important.

The reasons given for choosing Option E showed a common theme that is best summarised by one respondent's comment as follows:

"This would allow us to complete Plan Generation in full offline, solving the most common problems we encounter with slow connection speeds, loss of connection and subsequent loss of data. The main attraction is increased speed independent of internet connection or Landonline system speeds."

Responses on any foreseeable problems with Option E typically tended to be as follows:

..."I am unaware of any, except waiting for it to be available"... "delayed implementation and cost" ... and ... "only barrier is staff learning new systems".

Thanks very much to all those who participated. Your detailed feedback provides LINZ with a rich source of information to work with.

A detailed report will be made available to surveyors on the Landonline website next month. An update about the next steps will be published in the next issue of Landwrap.

Review of Exception process complete

LINZ has recently completed a project to review the way the Exception process is managed to provide more clarity for surveyors and LINZ staff. The project was initiated as a result of stakeholder issues raised both at the Survey and Titles Advisory Committee (STAC) meeting in June this year, and on the Landonline e-survey web forum.

Project objectives were to:

• Identify areas causing concern to surveyors and recommend options to address the issues
• Review the existing Exception process and recommend any necessary changes, and
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of surveyors and LINZ staff, when raising or giving advice on the Exception process.

The project identified several issues that fall within these categories:

Processes and training - There is a need for improved understanding of the parts of the process performed by surveyors and LINZ staff.

Documentation - Needs to be authoritative, consistent, organised, complete and at the appropriate level of detail.

Landonline - Functionality issues need to be analysed and corrected where required.

Underlying data - The need is to address and reduce Landonline data issues, specifically in non-Survey Accurate areas, and to lessen Exception Requests.

The project team has made a series of recommendations for improvement ranging from immediate solutions that LINZ is in the process of actioning now, through to medium to long term solutions where further investigation and analysis is required to complete any improvement.

Recommendations for immediate action directly affecting surveyors

LINZ will also be examining and developing responses for the following issues in the medium and longer term:

• Provide a system enhancement to Landonline that de-couples the Exception process from the certification and final submit functions. This possibility has been added to the Landonline Enhancement Prioritisation list.
• Provide a system enhancement to Landonline to enable non-licensed surveying staff to initiate the Exception process. This has been added to the Landonline Enhancement Prioritisation list.
• Review and update Exception process documentation and examples to ensure completeness and to facilitate ease of use for customers.
• Investigate how to address and reduce Landonline data issues, specifically in non-Survey Accurate areas, to help lessen the number of Exception Requests.

For information on when to raise an Exception Request, see the following article 'When to raise an Exception Request' checklist available, and link to the checklist.

'When to raise an Exception Request' checklist available

LINZ has developed a checklist to help surveyors clarify when they should raise an Exception Request and what associated actions they can take to resolve issues.

The checklist gives practical steps for surveyors to follow to resolve underlying Landonline data issues that become obvious while preparing an e-survey. An e-survey specialist support option is provided to enable common Landonline data issues to be conveniently resolved as they are identified.

The Exception Request checklist is available in the e-survey section on the Landonline website.

Methodology for auditing cadastral surveys – update

As advised during 2006, LINZ has tested a new methodology for auditing cadastral surveys. Following the Pilot project and discussions with the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors and the Institute of Cadastral Surveying, LINZ refined the methodology and released it in February 2007.

The new methodology reviews the Quality Assurance processes of Licensed Cadastral Surveyors (LCS's) and includes a field inspection and office visit. The methodology document was distributed to all LCS's in February 2007.

During the Pilot project, 11 survey firms were audited with a further 10 audited during the transition stage from 1 July 2006 to 30 September 2007. The methodology is now operational, which means that future office and field audits will become part of our annual audit programme agreed with the Surveyor-General.

Learnings and experiences to date

The survey firm audits have given LINZ a greater appreciation of the processes used by each firm and more confidence around firms achieving first time compliance going forward. It is also helping us to build a picture of what best practice processes and controls may look like.

The audits have helped survey firms understand their cadastral processes better and identify areas within their business operations that worked well and those that could be improved. Surveyors have commented that "auditing, self-auditing, internal training and continual improvement are the only way to go". Following are comments taken from some firms' audit satisfaction surveys:

"We agreed to be part of the project as we saw it as an opportunity to improve our systems. We are pleased to have achieved that outcome."

"A very worthwhile exercise."

"Quality of audit team – excellent, and having an experienced surveyor gave credibility to the audit."

"I found it a valuable experience. A good QA system saves money for both LINZ and me."

"Happy with the audit. It was realistic and helpful."

Requisition analysis of firms audited to date

LINZ provides each audited survey firm with six monthly reports of their requisition levels and percentages. We also produce an overall summary of requisition percentages covering all of the audited firms. The following graph plots the results for the year ended June 2007 and shows that the firms audited are heading in the right direction with reducing requisition rates.

We commend these firms for the progress they are making – our next challenge is to reduce the percentage further to below 10 percent.

The methodology document - (pdf 137KB) can be downloaded from LINZ's website. If you have any queries, send an email to info@linz.govt.nz, and put Business and Regulatory Assurance in the subject line.

Invitation to surveyors to contribute to e-survey best practice resources

In August 2007 we launched the Best Practice section on the Landonline website.

This section of the website aims to make it much easier to locate survey related information with an improved Tips and Hints index and a wider range of topics likely to be of interest to surveyors. We have also added three new sub-sections flagging items to indicate their usefulness to new, experienced and advanced users of e-survey.

We will be regularly adding new items to the index and invite you to contribute. If you have developed best practice ways of using Landonline e-survey you think would be useful and are happy to share with other users, please send your material to us at e-survey-forum@linz.govt.nz.

You can check out these pages now:

• Tips and Hints full index
• e-survey technical best practice
• Survey integration best practice
• Surveying information

The Best Practice section also has information on LandXML, updated Pre-validation information, and a checklist showing when to raise an Exception Request.

New e-survey tips and hints

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

• New functionality and process for Plan Generation and Submit
• Capture of pre-Landonline stage unit development plans
• Creating Hydro parcels
• Compressing supporting documents
• Allocation of Certificates of Title

New functionality and process for Plan Generation and Submit

New functionality in Release 2.10 now ensures the most up-to-date image of the Digital Survey Plan/Digital Title Plan is submitted for validation and approval by LINZ and certification by Territorial Authorities. This improves the current process for plans submitted to LINZ.

This new functionality has changed the process so that the Submit process now checks to ensure that the latest Plan Generation batch has completed to ensure the 'correct' version of the image is submitted.

What does this mean for surveyors?

• Surveyors should now wait until they can view their Plan Compilation Completion notices in 'My Messages' before they Sign and Submit their plans.

  
  NB: It is important to not keep going back into Plan Generation and selecting 'Complete' as this will delay the submitting of your plan as it will wait until the final 'Complete' request is processed by Landonline.

• Note that the 'Complete' button in Plan Generation prepares the plan compilation for queuing to the Plan Generation batch server. The image is generated when this process finishes.
• While you are waiting for your Plan Compilation Completion notice to appear in 'My Messages' and to be able to view these, you can perform the last 'Prevalidate' on the survey to ensure that the Plan Generation rules run.

Capture of pre-Landonline stage unit development plans

The new process to back capture stage unit development plans with numbers that preceded 300,000 was put in place in Release 2.9.

Survey conversion did not include the back capture of aspatial parcels associated to unit developments. Landonline simply recorded a plan label in the Spatial View. The new process is as follows:

• If a unit development stage is lodged with a plan reference preceding 300,000, LINZ will back capture (known as WIP or Work in Progress) the previous stages prior to lodgement in order to process the new survey.
• The system runs a business rule to check that a preceding or base plan has been captured in Landonline when a subsequent stage unit or redevelopment plan is lodged.
• If it hasn't been captured, a message instructs the surveyor to contact LINZ to request a WIP action to be completed. The new stage (or redevelopment) will not Submit until a WIP action has been completed.

Creating Hydro parcels

To create a hydro parcel, use 'general appellations'. The parcel intent is 'Hydro'. Follow the same steps for creating balance roads. Untick 'title and survey' and then OK the screen. Do not use 'other' format. See Help in Landonline for additional notes.

Compressing supporting documents

When a supporting document has been scanned and is ready to be attached, check that it has the correct compression, resolution and colour:

• Black and white images must be attached as a .tif file using the standard CCITT G4 compression with a suggested resolution range of 150 to 300 DPI
• Colour or grey scale images must be attached as a .jpg file.

To do this, right click the document in the stored directory and open it using a format that will allow the correct settings to be viewed. Once the document is open, click on Page/Properties.

The three screen shots below show the fields correctly filled out for attaching a supporting document with the correct colour, compression and resolution.

Go to the 'Submit an e-survey' section of the e-survey User Guide for more information on attaching supporting documents.

Allocation of Certificates of Title

Certificates of Title are allocated at the capture stage of creating an e-survey. Relevant parcels are then linked to the Certificates of Title at the capture stage before plan generation is completed. The e-survey is then submitted to LINZ for approval as to survey. Once the plan is approved as to survey, titles cannot be further allocated by the surveyor (up until that point the plan could be requested to be returned on requisition to allocate and link more Certificates of Title if required).

Any additional titles that may be needed will be allocated at the time of lodgement of the dealing. If there are documents that refer to land for which a title has not been pre-allocated, then these should make reference to the new legal description of the land rather than use a Certificate of Title reference.

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

A wealth of self-help information is available in the e-survey section on the Landonline website to assist surveyors complete an e-survey.

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.

The comprehensive Landonline Education Centre can be accessed by searching any topic.

e-dealing

Reminder: comments invited on the Proposed e-dealing Audit Methodology

The draft e-dealing audit methodology is now available on the LINZ website for comment on the content, approach and any matters concerning the future direction of audit.

See Proposed e-dealing Audit Methodology consultation for the draft methodology and information on how you can provide feedback during consultation. For further information on the methodology, see Landwrap September issue.

Consultation feedback must be received no later than 5pm on Friday, 30 November 2007.

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

Actually, it's about testing e-dealing functionality prior to a Landonline release. Landwrap takes a look behind the scenes at testing recently carried out for Release 2.10 and upcoming Release 3.0.

LINZ's Customer Systems Manager Ron Munro says it's important to engage external testers as well as LINZ staff to test and confirm new functionality to ensure not only that it works but that Landonline is being built as designed.

"External solicitors and legal staff were involved in the original requirements and design of Landonline," says Ron. "Getting them to test functionality prior to a release gives us confidence that the release is progressing well and any problem areas can be identified."

LINZ engaged Guy Mortlock of Mortlocks Lawyers in September to work through tests plans for both the 2.10 and 3.0 releases.

"The test plans I worked through were very comprehensive," says Guy. "LINZ could have confidence that if they tested to the plans, the functionality should all work when it went live."

Guy says the introduction of the Authority and Instruction (A&I) functionality is a big step forward. "In my opinion it still needs a bit of work to realise all of the potential benefits but it's a major step forward in reducing double handling of data. It enables data to be entered once in Landonline and have the A&I produced by Landonline. For those situations where editing is necessary, or where the A&I needs to be emailed, the A&I can be saved in a format readable by Word.

"Also with Release 2.10, the signing of instruments in a one-step process works really well. Conveyancing professionals now have the ability to sign multiple instruments while only entering their password and passphrase once. It's particularly useful for those signing large numbers of dealings.

"When I finished testing, I looked forward to getting back to the office and using it!" says Guy.

Matthew Pearse, Legal Agent and Primary Contact at Buddle Findlay Midtown Agency, was also asked to help test the new functionality for Release 3.0.

"I was asked to test the new functionality for transfer of mortgages, transfer of leases and transfer of part shares, and whether or not it was going to be easy for people to understand and use in the future," says Matthew. "I found it flowed logically and made sense, giving me confidence that new e-dealing transactions would be registered properly."

Matthew says he'll be using the new instruments coming up in Release 3.0, particularly multi party transfer of mortgages. "I do a lot of these. It's going to be very useful to be able to register several mortgages at the same time. The new functionality will particularly benefit larger firms that do a variety of dealings that can not currently be completed using Landonline.

"The new Help functionality is also extremely helpful, particularly with complex e-dealing instruments like transfer of shares," Matthew added.

Release 2.10 went live on 8 October and you can read detailed information on the changes made to Landonline on the system updates section of the Landonline website. Release 3.0 is scheduled for early 2008.

Release 2.10 road show wrap up

For the past six weeks, LINZ has delivered presentations on Release 2.10 to conveyancing professionals and firms' e-dealing champions around the country. These were very successful with the majority of firms sending representatives along.

LINZ would like to thank all the firms that helped out by hosting the presentations.

"Your support is truly appreciated," says Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services. "By having firms offer their premises to host the Release 2.10 presentation, we were able to visit many small towns and reduce the travel time for conveyancing professionals to attend."

The presentations gave conveyancing professionals the opportunity to ask LINZ questions about Landonline and the new functionality introduced on 8 October.

Many questions were asked about the New Zealand Law Society's (NZLS's) Authority & Instruction (A&I) form and processes that firms had adopted to complete and store the authorities. For more information on A&I forms, see the e-dealing Client A&I forms FAQs on the Landonline website.

Highlighted below are some of the other questions asked at the presentations and our responses.

Q   Why are banks asking for A&I forms?

A   LINZ and the NZLS have advised banks that they do not require the A&I form. Most banks are no longer requesting these.

    LINZ and the NZLS agree that the A&I form is necessary between solicitor and client. This is the client's authority and instruction to the solicitor to act on their behalf.

Q   Can LINZ extend their hours of registration?

A   New registration hours will be considered after the journey to 100% e-lodgement is completed at the end of 2008. While LINZ is still operating dual systems, it is a regulatory requirement that the same hours are maintained for both electronic and paper-based transactions. Our operating hours are currently between 9am and 4pm. For further information, see this month's article Will e-lodgement change registration to 24/7?.

Q   Will the minor status of a client clear automatically when they become the legal age to own land?

A   No, this is up to the client's conveyancing professional to make an application to LINZ for the removal of this memorial.

Q   Can a summary report be run of ALL e-dealing transactions completed by a conveyancing professional for audit purposes?

A   No, once you have registered an e-dealing it is removed from Workspace therefore you can not run a summary report.

Q   Is the Alias information populated into the A&I form when the Alias function has been utilised?

A   No, but when a person is a minor or if the person has a name suffix (e.g. Snr/Jnr), this information will be shown on the A&I form.

Q   Can you use one A&I form if the transferor and transferee are the same person?

A   Yes, as long as it's clear on the A&I form that they are signing in their capacity as transferor and transferee.

If you need further assistance using the new functionality of Release 2.10, please refer to the e-dealing quick reference cards or the e-dealing practise tool. As always, the Customer Support team are here to help you, call them on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463) and select option 1.

Will e-lodgement change registration to 24/7?

Conveyancing practitioners around the country have asked LINZ to consider extending the current registration hours now that e-dealing is saving them so much time and is so quick and easy to use. While new registration hours will be considered after the journey to 100% e-lodgement is completed at the end of 2008, many factors need to be considered such as staffing, processes involving multiple instruments, and support.

"Some people think electronic lodgement will allow registration 24/7 and that's not right," says Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services. "We can look to increase our hours of registration but we still have to consider needs such as the back up of all land and title transactions that occurs each night, so it's unlikely to be a 24/7 registration system."

Hours for lodgement are currently set at 9am to 4pm. While LINZ is still operating dual systems, it is a regulatory requirement that the same hours are maintained for both electronic and paper-based transactions. This ensures there is a level playing field in terms of legal priority for registration purposes. When virtually all instruments are able to be lodged electronically, it will be possible for the Registrar-General of Land (RGL) to extend the lodgement hours, subject to any operational constraints.

"We've listened to feedback from conveyancers throughout the country and most requests have been for hours ranging between 9am to 7pm," says RGL Robbie Muir. "In fact, most people would be satisfied with an additional hour to the existing registration hours making it 9am-5pm."

Marie Colling, JP and Registered Legal Executive at Gibson Sheat Lawyers in Wellington says "Because e-dealing has improved and changed the way we do business, it enables us to provide a better service for our clients so it would be good if registration hours were 9am to 5pm."

Some conveyancers have asked why the hours of registration cannot be addressed by LINZ earlier.

Sharon responded to this saying, "We will look at reviewing the registration hours once we have completed all the changes required for 100% e-lodgement. Our Processing Centres have been going through a lot of change and we don't want to impact our staff further by extending counter hours. However, it's definitely something we'll be considering in the near future."

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 watch points on the Landonline website.

No need to change the Conveyancing Professional

There may often be circumstances where the Conveyancing Professional (CP) named in a dealing may not be available for signing. If that occurs, any CP within the firm can certify and sign the necessary instruments without the need to change the named CP in the dealing.

The benefits of this include:

• Retaining signatures of other parties who may have already signed the instrument
• Not incurring the wrath of colleagues by deleting their signatures with a change of your CP
• The messages will go to the original named CP
• Quicker than having to amend the names in the Create Dealing screen.

The name of the certifying CP will show on the instrument as the person who certified and signed that instrument.

This is consistent with allowing any CP within a firm being able to sign any dealing within that firm. The Authority & Instruction forms are addressed to the firm as opposed to an individual CP for that reason.

The same also applies for a sole practitioner's attorney who is 'linked' to that firm. In an urgent situation, the attorney can sign the instrument without needing to change the named CP on the basis that the 'linking' allows the system to recognise the attorney as technically being within the same firm for the purposes of signing.

In summary, if the signing CP is different from the CP named for that instrument as a 'one off' stop gap measure then don't change the named CP. If the change is permanent then it should be done before the other side has signed. If the other side has signed, any change of the named CP will remove all certifications and signatures.

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