LINZ News

News

Making our core paper records accessible

More than 167 years of core survey and title paper records form a valuable part of New Zealand's history and many of these original records are currently stored or accessed via LINZ offices.

Following LINZ's move to 100% e-lodgement, a major programme of change is planned to preserve and archive these historic and valuable records. The document that details how this will be done is entitled 'Future Proofing Core Survey and Title Paper Records' and has been approved by the Minister for Land Information.

According to Chief Executive Brendan Boyle, the strategy is the result of a critical piece of work for LINZ.

“For the past few years, LINZ has been moving towards mandatory 100% electronic lodgement of all survey and title documents, which means that paper is being phased out. This will result in a decrease in the volume of manual processing work in the five LINZ processing centres to the extent that the need for public counters in these processing centres ceases,” says Brendan.

“LINZ has therefore announced that public counters will close in late 2008 and once they do, we'll no longer provide a public interface via a counter service.”

A residual service will be provided in the Hamilton and Christchurch offices but their primary role will be to process lodgements. These changes have major implications for core survey and title paper records currently stored and accessed through LINZ offices.

“Staff, stakeholders and customers are all attached to paper records and the rich information contained within them. LINZ has worked hard to find solutions that will meet the needs of various groups who require access to the records for research purposes, now and in the new electronic environment,” says Brendan.

The strategy will be phased in to coincide with LINZ's move towards 100% e-lodgement and is likely to take up to 10 years. Printed copies of the strategy will be sent to stakeholders and customers in early October; it will also be available on LINZ's website.

Other key points of the strategy include:

• A virtual counter will replace physical counters in a phased process
• A digitisation programme will provide more digital content and protect the historic records
• Paper records will be stored at Archives New Zealand or with a third party storage provider
• A governance structure will oversee the work.

LINZ is also working in partnership with Archives New Zealand to design a process so that records of archival value will be available when necessary, and ensure that they are protected to the standards Archives New Zealand requires.

“LINZ will continue to communicate with stakeholders, customers and the public about ways they can obtain copies of survey and title records when public counters close in late 2008,” says Brendan.

Further information on the LINZ core survey and title paper records strategy can be found on the LINZ website.

New System support section on the Landonline website

Locating information on system support and technical requirements for Landonline has just become a whole lot easier.

A new section – System support – has been developed with the primary aims of minimising the number of 'clicks' customers need to make to get to this information, and improving the range and presentation of topics.

Key changes:

• Instead of accessing system and IT requirements information through About Landonline, simply click on System support from the website home page
• Or, you can click on the 'Technical resources' yellow button on any page and go straight to System support
• A new sub-section, FAQs and self help, has been designed to solve some of the most common technical problems that users experience when connecting to or using Landonline.

You will find all software downloads, including Digital Certificate downloads, in System support. (These have been moved out of the Sign-up section.)

The new System support sub-sections are:

• System support policies
• IT and system requirements
• Landonline software downloads and installation instructions
• Digital Certificate downloads and installation instructions
• FAQs and self help
• About the Landonline system and performance

Landonline

Countdown to Release 2.10

The latest Landonline system update is scheduled for 8 October 2007. This means Landonline and Customer Support will be unavailable on Saturday 6 October. Normal services will resume on Monday 8 October, from 7am.

“Release 2.10 is the second of several major updates coming up over the next 12 months, primarily to deliver the functionality to enable 100% e-lodgement of title transactions,” says Katrina Jacobsen, Manager Customers. “These releases are also the main way LINZ will deliver system maintenance and enhancements.”

Key benefits for conveyancers within this release will be:

• Certifying and signing of multiple instruments in a single e-dealing
• Pre-populating the A&I form from within Landonline
• Key screen updates include the new 'Help' button, which will display on every screen and the 'Preview Instrument' buttons will display on every instrument screen.

For surveyors, Release 2.10 primarily focuses on process improvements. In particular, reducing manual processing and improving general performance.

Information on Release 2.10 for surveyors and conveyancers is available on the Landonline website.

Important signing software changes are part of Release 2.10

Important note: this change only affects those customers with signing rights.

A reminder that all customers who have signing rights (solicitors, surveyors and territorial authority staff) will need to upgrade their version of Digisign – Landonline's signing software.

• The new software (Digisign version 2) will not be available and can not be installed until 8 October as it has to be made available with Release 2.10.
• From 8 October, the previous version of Digisign (Digisign version 1) will not be compatible with parts of Landonline and therefore will not supported by LINZ.

Information about the installation procedure was provided to signing customers early this week. Do alert your IT/technical staff if you are in a locked down environment where only these staff can install a file. It is important they are briefed prior to 8 October to ensure they can download and make the Digisign version 2 file available for all staff with signing rights.

If you have any queries, or if your IT support staff or service provider require further information, please contact Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463), select option 4.

Landonline performance taskforce – wrap up

In the March 2007 issue of Landwrap, we gave you an update on the progress the Performance Taskforce had made in improving the overall performance of Landonline.

The capacity of Landonline (i.e. its ability to handle volume across all Landonline components) and its performance (how well it is operating) is a key priority for LINZ to ensure we can effectively support customers, 100% elodgement environment.

However, these are not the only factors that can impact Landonline's availability and therefore outages can occur from time to time, such as those experienced on 3 September, which were not capacity or performance related.

The objectives of the Performance Taskforce were to:

• continue and complete the infrastructure review
• improve the connectivity and stability of the Landonline system and performance
• ensure the capacity and performance of Landonline is continuously maximised, and
• continue business improvements based on best practice.

Over the past three months, the taskforce has undertaken a number of initiatives to achieve these objectives, which are outlined below. While some of this content is technical, it gives insight into the range and depth of work that has been undertaken to improve Landonline's performance now and in the future.

Landonline's performance and stability will always be a top priority. While this is the last of the three articles associated with the Performance Taskforce set up earlier this year, we will continue to update you on a regular basis on work in this area.

Windows Microsoft VISTA update

In May, we advised you that we had done some investigation into VISTA to confirm its operability with Landonline, specifically the Citrix environment we operate.

At that time, Citrix had advised us that while some of their products were VISTA compatible, the ICA client version Landonline customers use to run Landonline was not supported by Citrix. This meant that if your ICA client running VISTA had an issue, Citrix and LINZ would not have been able to help you sort it out.

Citrix has since advised it has released ICA client version 10.1, which is compatible with VISTA.

LINZ has a programme of work underway to check that the remaining Landonline components work with VISTA. This testing includes:

• Ensuring all utilities required to operate Landonline work with VISTA. Utilities are tools such as DC Loader and the Print to Tiff driver that customers use in association with Landonline
• Working with utility vendors to ensure their tools are certified and fully supported on VISTA
• Checking its functionality with existing and planned releases such as Release 2.10.

This is a substantial programme of work that is being scheduled and undertaken between the current release delivery plan.

We will provide a further update as more information becomes available.

Regulatory

The Land Transfer Amendment Regulations (No 2) 2007

As advised in the August Landwrap, Release 2.10 will allow for a wider range of discharges to be prepared in Landonline e-dealing. Detailed below are the necessary changes to the Land Transfer Regulations to support these.

The Land Transfer Regulations 2002 support electronic lodgement by setting out the instruments that may be lodged as an e-dealing (in regulation 4 and parts 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 1) and specifying the parties in respect of whom certification is required and the form and legal effect of certifications (in regulations 11, 12 and 13). These Regulations were described in Torrenstalk September 2002 Issue 22.

These amendment regulations, which come into force on 8 October 2007, amend the Land Transfer Regulations 2002 to support the expansion of instruments that may be lodged for registration electronically through Landonline e-dealing, and also to clarify and simplify the existing regulations.

1. Expansion of e-lodgement
   
   The amendment regulations expand the range of discharges that can be lodged electronically, by specifying additional permissible instrument types under one class “Discharge instrument”, and amending the necessary elements of Discharge instruments to allow for partial discharges.

Amendment regulation 4

Inserts three new terms “charge”, “chargeholder” and “discharge instrument” into regulation 3 Interpretation. These terms and their definitions are taken out of regulation 11(2) and are unchanged except for “withdrawal instrument” being changed to “discharge instrument”.

Amendment regulation 6

Revokes regulation 11 Parties in respect of whom certification under s164A of Act is required and substitutes a new regulation 11 with a new table of electronic instruments, cases and specified parties. The details for Transfer instrument and Mortgage instrument are unchanged. However, the new table combines the three present classes “Mortgage discharge instrument”, “Withdrawal instrument” and “Caveat withdrawal instrument” into one class description “Discharge instrument (section 111 of Act and various other enactments)” with the Specified party “The chargeholder”.

The contents of subclause (2) of regulation 11 are moved to regulation 3 Interpretation.

Amendment regulation 7

Amends regulation 7 Legal effect of certification by revoking subclause (2) and substituting a new subclause (2) that combines the four present classes “Mortgage discharge instrument”, “Statutory land charge discharge instrument”, “Compensation certificate discharge instrument” and “Caveat withdrawal instrument” into one class description “Discharge instrument (section 111 of Act and various other enactments)” with the party deemed to have executed “The chargeholder”.

Amendment regulation 10

Amends Schedule 1 Electronic instruments :

• Revokes Part 1 Permissible transactions and substitutes a new Part 1 that combines the two present classes “Discharge of mortgage” and “Withdrawal instrument” into one class description “Discharge instrument”.
• Revokes Part 2 Permissible instruments and substitutes a new Part 2 that combines the two present classes “Discharge of mortgage” and “Withdrawal instrument” into one class description “Discharge instrument” and adds new permissible instrument types within the “Discharge instrument” class.
• Amends Part 3 Necessary elements of electronic instruments by revoking the references to “Discharge of mortgage” and “Withdrawal instrument” and replacing with “Discharge instrument”, and by removing the word “fully” from the listed Necessary elements, to allow for partial discharges.
2. Other amendments to the Land Transfer Regulations 2002

Amendment regulation 5

Revokes regulation 6 Who must sign paper instruments and substitutes a new regulation 6, with a table that lists several additional Instruments, Cases and Parties who must sign, so as to cover all of the main Land Transfer Act instruments.

Amendment regulation 8

Revokes regulations 17, 18, 35, 36 and 37. All of these regulations relate to the old requirements for producing the duplicate certificate or other instrument of title for entry of memorials and the issue and delivery of certificates of title and other documents. They are no longer necessary since all land in New Zealand in a computer register became electronic transactions land with the effect of cancelling duplicate certificates of title from 14 October 2002.

Amendment regulation 9

Amends regulation 24 Registration as to part of land affected by adding a new sub-clause (3), that the regulation does not apply to electronic instruments.

Amendment regulation 11

Amends Clause 1 Interpretation of Schedule 4 Rights and powers implied in easements by adding a definition for “repair and maintenance” as including the replacement of an easement facility, and amends and adds provisions to Clause 11 Repair, Maintenance and Costs. These amendments, which will be implied in new easements unless expressly negated, were developed at the request of and in consultation with the New Zealand Law Society.

3. Statutory specifications in NZ Gazette

Acceptable forms and statutory provisions to be complied with for the expanded range of permissible electronic instruments will be specified by notice in the Gazette. This notice will replace the corresponding specifications in the Gazette dated 14 November 2002, Issue No 166, page 4175 with effect from 8 October 2007.

Forms of electronic instruments

The notice will specify acceptable forms for electronic transfer instruments, mortgage instruments and discharge instruments, for the purposes of section 26 of the Land Transfer ( Computer Register s and Electronic lodgement) Amendment Act 2002.

Statutory requirements

The notice will specify the statutory requirements to be complied with for each class of instrument, for the purposes of regulation 12 of the Land Transfer Regulations 2002.

Optimal regulation: LINZ defines the 'what' – industry defines the 'how'

"As little as possible – as much as necessary" encapsulates what LINZ means by optimal regulation says Warwick Quinn, General Manager of Regulatory.

Over the past three years, LINZ has been changing the way it determines when and how it decides to intervene in the market. Optimal regulation sees a change from a historically prescriptive approach to one that reinforces intervention only where necessary. “It's based on the premise that LINZ is not focussed on telling suppliers how to do something. Instead, we are concentrating on what should be delivered,” Warwick says.

According to Warwick, optimal regulation starts with the question, “What are the regulator's core objectives?”

“When we started this process, we developed a set of objectives for each area. From there, we developed a model to measure the risk of not achieving those objectives. This framework also provided us with the appropriate intervention tool necessary to manage that risk – a standard, guidelines, ruling etc. We took a lot of time working out our objectives and risk model to ensure the intervention tool we eventually adopted was optimal, that is, fit for purpose. We brought in PriceWaterhouseCoopers to review it and they confirmed one essential thing for us: is our logic going to produce optimal regulation. They said 'yes'.”

Warwick says a number of other government agencies are doing similar work. “The common theme we're all working towards is ensuring a good outcome – identifying the risks and mitigating them at the right levels. Generally, the higher the risk, the higher the level of intervention. On the other hand, if a risk is low, it may be best to do nothing. That's optimal regulation.”

Review of standards and guidelines underway

Part of the move to optimal regulation involves the review of standards and guidelines for each of LINZ's eight regulatory areas. Warwick says, “We're about two-thirds the way through condensing the (approximately) 350 documents into 43 standards and guidelines that will give us a better outcome and quality.”

Representatives from all of relevant industries, along with academics and technical players, are taking part in expert groups to put each of LINZ's new draft standards to the test and their input is invaluable.

“They're confirming our belief that optimal regulation will raise first-time compliance and we certainly have a better understanding of each other's obligations by working together on this.

“The challenge to the industry players will be to determine what sort of practices and quality assurance can be put in place to promote self-regulation,” said Warwick. “That's where innovation and investment in technology will deliver significant benefits.”

Public consultation on the proposed Rules for Cadastral Survey starts soon

In March this year, the Surveyor-General, Don Grant, provided a preliminary outline of the review of the Rules for Cadastral Survey.

The Rules for Cadastral Survey are important for surveyors and they are primarily for the benefit of land owners and holders of rights and interest in land. They will also be of interest to land developers, local authorities, the real estate industry, and conveyancers. The Rules specify the standards for the conduct of cadastral surveys and for the cadastral survey datasets, including the plans that are lodged with LINZ.

The current 2002 Rules were derived from the Survey Regulations 1998 with little change except for making provision for digital cadastral survey datasets. This review has used a new risk-based approach in line with LINZ's wider regulatory move to optimal regulation. See the article about optimal regulation in this issue of Landwrap for more information.

Throughout 2007, an expert committee comprising industry experts and several surveyor representatives, has been meeting monthly to review the draft Rules. The team at the Office of the Surveyor-General (OSG) has made refinements based on the committee's feedback and the proposed Rules are now being prepared for public consultation.

Consultation is planned to start on 15 October 2007. The surveying community and other beneficiaries of the Rules (e.g. landowners, those transacting or registering land, land developers and local authorities) will have until 1 February 2008 to provide feedback.

Presentations about the review of the Rules

LINZ is working in conjunction with the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors to organise presentations around the country about the review of the Rules. The OSG's team will visit a number of locations over several weeks from 15 October to provide information about the review and the significant changes to the Rules (except for the week of the 9th South East Asian Survey Congress – 29 October to 2 November).

Presentations are planned for the following locations:

• Kerikeri
• North Shore
• Tauranga
• South Auckland
• Hamilton
• New Plymouth
• Palmerston North
• Napier
• Wellington
• Rai Valley, Blenheim
• Christchurch
• Dunedin
• Queenstown

Keep an eye out for more information about presentation dates and locations in the coming few weeks.

Revised Registrar-General of Land guidelines published

LINZ has revised some of its regulatory guidelines and these have been published on the LINZ website under RGL publications. The revised guidelines follow.

LINZG20704: Guideline for making application to change or correct names on the Register

Regulation 26 of the Land Transfer Regulations 2002 permits the Registrar-General of Land to change or correct names in the land titles register in certain circumstances.

This guideline provides guidance for making applications for a change or correction of name by individuals, companies and incorporated societies, and other corporate bodies, and the processing of those applications.

LINZG20705: Guideline for transmission following amalgamation of companies

This guideline provides information to assist in the preparation and registration of a transmission application, suitable for nationwide use, following amalgamation of companies under Part 13 of the Companies Act 1993.

It also provides guidance on how such an amalgamation can be recognised, without having to formally record it on the Register.

LINZG20707: Guideline for application for removal of redundant easements

Section 70 of the Land Transfer Act 1952 sets out certain circumstances permitting the Registrar-General of Land to remove a redundant or expired easement or profit à prendre from the Register.

This guideline provides additional guidance on the application and registration procedures for the removal of redundant easements.

It is intended for use by persons wishing to apply for the removal of a redundant easement or profit à prendre and by LINZ staff with delegated authority under the Land Transfer Act 1952 to undertake registration functions on behalf of the Registrar-General of Land.

e-survey

Paper plan processing update

LINZ encouraged surveyors to submit any completed paper plans prior to the e-survey mandatory date because after this date, plans would no longer be accepted in paper form.

As a result of this advice, LINZ received a massive 779 paper plans during the week leading up to 1 September, which compares to the average weekly lodgement of 94 paper plans during the first six months of 2007.

“We predicted that there would be a considerable increase in paper plans leading up to the mandatory date,” says Lindsay Meehan, National Processing Manager. “However, it does mean that customers will experience some delay in processing timeframes.”

LINZ's processing timeframes are 10 business days for an e-survey and 20 business days for a paper lodgement.

Lindsay says, “Our focus is to process e-surveys within the standard 10-day period and where possible, meet the standard for manually lodged plans. We're unable to process the recent influx of paper plans within 20 days. Accordingly, we've sent surveyors an email suggesting that if any of their plans are awaiting local authority consents, they may wish to delay approvals until the consents have been received.”

Initiatives have been put in place to clear the build up and it is anticipated the majority of paper plans will be processed by the end of October.

If surveyors wish to delay approval until local authority consent has been received, email the plan number to info@linz.govt.nz and LINZ will arrange to return it through the requisition process (manual requisition R171 – returned at surveyor's request).

“This will give the surveyor more control over the when the plan will be approved as to survey,” says Lindsay.

Plan generation – don't forget to have your say!

Surveyors have just a week left to express their views on the range of options to improve the creation of survey and title plans in Landonline.

The consultation closes at 4pm, Friday, 28 September 2007. Surveyors, survey technicians and others who create, edit or submit e-survey plans are encouraged to complete the questionnaire before the closing date so that all responses can be considered.

Information about the consultation and the questionnaire is available at
https://surveys.researchnz.com/LINZconsultation.

We look forward to your participation and feedback.

Exception process – project update

As advised in the August edition of Landwrap, LINZ is examining how it manages the Exception process to identify and address any issues.

The review has been completed and revisions to the process are currently being documented. More information will be included in the October Landwrap.

"Talk to each other and lodge on the same day"

LINZ offers a fast processing service to surveyors and conveyancers who simultaneously lodge an e-survey with an associated dealing.

Hudson Moody, NZIS representative on LINZ's Survey and Title Advisory Committee, says that this option should be seriously considered wherever the client can benefit from obtaining title in the shortest possible timeframe.

“The surveyor needs to work closely with the solicitor and get them in the loop as soon as practicable,” says Hudson, “such as at the time you are preparing to submit the dataset to the territorial authority for certification. More importantly, you need to be diligent in your QA processes as the reduced timing is dependent upon neither party being requisitioned.”

With the 'e-survey + NEW TITLE FAST-TRACK' service, LINZ aims to reduce the processing time for an e-survey lodged with an associated dealing to a total of 12 working days for the plan approval and title issue. To qualify, the dealing must be lodged along with the e-survey + NEW TITLE FAST-TRACK request form, on the same day as the e-survey and neither should be requisitioned or rejected.

If the dealing or e-survey are rejected or requisitioned, the timeframe for fast-track processing will no longer apply. “If processed consecutively, you're up for 10 days for the e-survey and a further 15 days for title,” says Hudson.

Survey congress to address sustainability issues

'Developing sustainable societies' is the theme of the 9th South-East Asian Survey Congress in Christchurch at the end of October, which will examine the fundamental principles of sustainability in land development.

Hosted by the New Zealand Institute of Surveyors (NZIS), the congress is the largest and most prestigious international conference of surveying professionals to be held in New Zealand.

The theme is topical, with surveyors here and overseas grappling with the challenge of designing and developing sustainable communities.

A strong LINZ contingent will present on several key topics, including the impacts of Landonline e-survey on the cadastral survey community; the vertical datum 2007; a changing approach to geodetic networks and standards; the new national Topo50 map series; and proposed changes to the Surveyor-General's Rules for cadastral surveys.

Delegates from throughout New Zealand, Australia, South-East Asia, Africa, the Carribean and Europe are expected to attend.

Surveyor-General, Don Grant, says international attendees will be interested in developments in the New Zealand survey system, such as Landonline e-survey.

“We are leading the world with Landonline, a fact LINZ and the surveying and legal communities can take great pride in,” says Don.

“It's a great opportunity to not only showcase what New Zealand is doing in surveying but to also see what others are accomplishing. We're looking forward to seeking comments from overseas experts and benefiting from their experiences.”

Young ambassadors to go to FIG, Sydney 2010

LINZ Geodetic Data Analyst Nic Donnelly will go to the conference wearing another hat – as one of two New Zealand-based Young Ambassadors nominated to promote the four-yearly International Federation of Surveyors congress in Sydney in 2010.

The Federation, more formally known as the Fèdèration Internationale des Gèomètres (or FIG) is an international, non-government organisation that supports international collaboration for the progress of surveying in all fields and applications.

Nic's role is to promote the Sydney congress among younger surveyors. “We need young surveyors attending conferences such as FIG as they will be driving the future direction of surveying,” says Nic.

NZIS's Young Ambassador nominee Rebecca Strang will also represent New Zealand at the 2010 congress.

For more information on the 9th South-East Asian Survey Congress, visit www.surveyors.org.nz/congress2007.

New e-survey tips and hints

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

Identifying illegal characters

If an error message referring to illegal characters is encountered when saving layout sheets, an easy way to identify these is to move all diagrams off the page. This will leave behind only user added text and will expose any illegal characters. Once the illegal characters have been deleted, the diagrams can be placed back on the layout sheets in their previous positions.

Manual capture of Māori appellations

Tip and hint Capture of new appellations – LandXML files and manual capture has been updated to include the manual capture of Māori appellations.

Right mouse button features

Remember to use the right mouse click features in Survey Capture CSC_S10 – Spatial Display, which saves having to go through the Capture menu:

• select the layer you wish to query or carry out an action on, then
• right mouse click within the spatial display to reveal a dropdown list of Capture tools available:

Certificate templates 1 and 2

• Certificate Template 1 – RMA / Unit Titles Act - (doc 33KB)
• Certificate Template 2 – Section 348 Local Government Act – Easement Plans - (doc 26KB)

Oops! A big thank you to the surveyor who pointed out the links to these templates had not been included in the new-look e-survey section. We have added them to e-survey tips and hints.

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

Waiver of 'instrument structured text view' search fee

Implementing the new fees for Landonline survey and title products from 1 September 2007 resulted in all electronic searches attracting a uniform $3 fee.  This included a $3 fee for an instrument structured text view search, which is usually used by Conveyancing Professionals to check the status and facilitate e-dealing transactions. The fee for this type of search has previously been set at nil.
 
LINZ has addressed this by waiving the fee from 13 September 2007 so that Landonline no longer charges for this type of search. LINZ has credited all fees that have occurred since 1 September 2007. Regulations will subsequently be amended to permanently set this fee at nil.

We apologise to conveyancers for any inconvenience this unexpected fee has caused.

Comments invited on the Proposed e-dealing Audit Methodology

August's Landwrap presented the results of the e-dealing audit pilot and advised law firms that LINZ plans to introduce a risk, system and controls-based audit methodology.

The NZLS Property Law Section commented in an August article that the Section had considered the report and acknowledged the value to be gained to the profession by participating in this audit initiative. 

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.

Law firms have recently raised many questions indicating an interest in and readiness to participate in the proposed audit regime. The typical questions received by LINZ include:

• Can I be audited soon?
• Who will be selected for audit?
• Will I be given notice of a LINZ audit visit? 
• What will happen to the future of compliance review?

The proposed e-dealing audit methodology is a process that:

• is transparent
• recognises the Registrar-General of Land's requirements
• reduces risk during the processing of electronic transactions
• is preventive rather than detective
• achieves continuous system improvement, and
• is a voluntary or opt-in scheme.

Following consultation, LINZ proposes finalising the e-dealing audit methodology and introducing it in January 2008.  There will be an initial transition phase where the compliance review process will continue in tandem with the new audit approach before final implementation.

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

Release 2.10 'on the road'

LINZ's Customer Uptake team has been travelling around the country delivering important information about Release 2.10, scheduled for 8 October 2007. General feedback from the presentations has been positive.

“The presentation was a great way for LINZ to touch base with us and answer our questions,” says Legal Executive Debbie Wendelborn of Rogers & Rutherford in Auckland. “It means there'll be no surprises when the release comes out.  I'd recommend that conveyancing firms send a representative along to a presentation to ensure they're prepared.”

Debbie says it was a good idea to invite both the e-dealing champion and the conveyancing professional to the presentation. “As our firm's e-dealing champion, I can disseminate the information from the presentation to the necessary people in my firm.  The conveyancing professional appreciated being able to find out about the changes pertinent to them,” Debbie says. “The only drawback was the size of the slides on the presentation handouts, which were quite difficult to read.”

The Customer Uptake team took these comments on board and the handouts now have larger slides for easy viewing.  The handouts can also be printed from the Landonline website for those who would like a new copy.

People who have attended the presentations are now feeling more confident about the new functionality coming up in October and with how future releases will be introduced.

“The presentation was a helpful overview,” says Alan Clark, Principal of Alan Clark Lawyer in Auckland. “I now know what to expect when releases become available. I'm pleased I took along another person from my firm because we can now talk about it together to gain a better understanding.”

Katrina Jacobsen, Manager Customers, is pleased with attendance so far. “It's really important that people understand the changes that are coming and have time to prepare for them in advance of a release.”

The presentations have also highlighted to conveyancers the importance of receiving information from LINZ. “I've realised that we haven't been receiving all correspondence from LINZ that we should be,” says Sarah Hubbard, an associate at Morrison Kent in Auckland.  “Having spoken to LINZ and other members in my firm, we've now updated our contact details so that I'm the main point of contact to disseminate information throughout our firm.”

Katrina says, “It's really important that conveyancing firms keep their contact details up to date.  We'll be contacting firms in the coming months to ensure we hold the correct information. Firms can also call us and let us know if their contact details change.”

We don't want anyone to miss out on the presentations.  Firms need to book early by responding to our email invite or calling Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463).

A true e-dealing champion

Gerald Alexander, e-dealing champion

2007 has been an eventful year in the world of e-dealing with two mandatory dates having been successfully been implemented, increased functionality through Release 2.9 and the launch of Release 2.10 just days away. 

For some conveyancers, the learning curve to be comfortable with e-dealing and meet mandatory dates has been a steep one.  The change for many has been more than simply switching business practises from paper to electronic.  Some, like Christchurch's Gerald Alexander made the decision to buy his first computer to enable him to continue his conveyancing practise. 

At a recent District Law Society meeting in Christchurch when Gerald stood to thank the LINZ team, he had with him a framed copy of his firm's e-dealing usage email showing he was at 100%.  He was not only thrilled to have been lodging all Discharges, Transfers and Mortgages to reach 100% but it was made all the more special by its timely arrival on his 75th birthday. 

But then taking on a challenge is not new to Gerald having given up his position as a junior in a legal office in the 1950's to take up racing speedway cars full time.  And he attacked e-dealing in the same way as re-building engines all those years ago – he wrote it down step by step.

Gerald received assistance to set up his new computer and undertook LINZ training in e-dealing.  He also called on the assistance of his niece to help him create a book as a step by step guide through e-dealing – his own version of the quick reference cards.

“I was quite concerned that I wouldn't be able to do this [e-dealing] but my niece said I could and she was right,” said Gerald.  “Going through slowly and methodically and giving myself time to think about each step has allowed me to really understand e-dealing.  I wouldn't go back to paper now – I'm tickled pink with how we've progressed.”

In fact Gerald's only concern is his level of fitness.  “I used to cycle over to the LINZ office to deliver my papers, which was a great way to keep fit for skiing, but the bike doesn't get as much use now that it's all done through the computer.”   But even this change hasn't affected Gerald too much – he still hit the slopes on the recent Canterbury District Law Society skiing day.

Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services said Gerald was to be commended for his ability to adopt e-dealing.  “We acknowledge people have had to make significant changes to incorporate e-dealing into their business practise and it is thanks to the efforts from people like Gerald that we have all managed to achieve so much.”

Sharon added, “Each of the next three releases will bring with it an increase in functionality and complexity and it will be important for firms to keep up to date with the changes and benefits each will bring.  There'll be further presentations and workshops and it's important every firm is represented at these events.” 

Scanning, lodging and auto registration

In moving land transactions into the online environment, LINZ had to make a number of decisions regarding how documents would be lodged electronically.

Current Landonline functionality covers a variety of simple transactions that can be registered without further need for LINZ to manually check details – these are known as automatically registrable (auto reg) e-dealings. 

Robbie Muir, Registrar-General of Land, explains. “The simplicity of the instruments currently e-capable has enabled LINZ to build the rules from our manual processing into the application.”   

Eighteen instruments are currently available electronically but there are a further 338 instruments being reviewed to determine which will continue to be included and therefore transferred into the online environment.    

Robbie says, “As we increase the number of more complex transactions within the Landonline application, we'll be unable to include every rule to enable the AUTO REG of all instruments.   LINZ staff will still have a major role to play in the processing of these more complex transactions.”

Sharon Cottrell, General Manager Customer Services says, “Our staff will continue to have a key part to play in the registration and processing of land transactions for New Zealand so it's important for LINZ to retain the depth of knowledge we now have in the organisation.   We've been working to ensure that experience remains within LINZ for the benefit of everyone.”

The scale of complexity has meant LINZ has developed three ways for instruments to be registered:

• AUTO REG
• LODGE WITH TEMPLATE
• LODGE WITH IMAGE

The rules for simple transactions have been incorporated into Landonline, which allows conveyancers to input information directly into the system.  This in turn is lodged automatically with LINZ and no further manual intervention is required.  These are AUTO REG transactions.

LODGE WITH TEMPLATE will allow users to electronically lodge instruments in Landonline by completing a template that will enable the input of more than simple information.  The inclusion of free text and the more complex nature of the instruments means LINZ will still have to manually process these dealings. 

The third method, LODGE WITH IMAGE, will always need LINZ to manually check documentation.  All documents will be submitted electronically via a scanned or attached file and then processed within LINZ.  This needn't always be a scanned image and in fact is more likely to be a Word document containing extra information needed to complete the process, e.g. a Word file noting the provisions for an Easement Instrument.  Information on scanner requirements can be found on the Landonline website.

Further information on how these other methods can be completed will be made available as increased functionality is launched in upcoming releases.    

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 related information section of the Landonline website.

• Bankrupt client
• Powers of Attorney

Bankrupt client

A bankrupt's property vests in the Official Assignee (OA) at the point of adjudication.  That vesting for land is effected by registration of a Transmission to the OA.

A transfer can not be made from the bankrupt directly to a third party purchaser, even if that transfer purports to be from the bankrupt but signed by the OA. There must be a Transmission to the OA first.

Once title is in the name of the OA then an Authority and Instruction (A&I) may be used by the OA to effect a transfer to a third party. The Public Corporate A&I form should be used by the OA as the OA is acting as part of a government department.

Guidelines

The revised New Zealand Law Society e-dealing Guidelines have changed the commentary to Guideline M in relation to bankrupts.

The prior wording of the commentary allowed two options for completion of an A&I form. One was execution of the A&I by the bankrupt client with consent of the OA annexed.

That option has been removed as the bankrupt client cannot deal with his or her property as it vests in the OA at the point of adjudication.

Accordingly, the second option contained in the original commentary has been adopted as the only method namely, that execution of the A&I must be by the OA using the Public Corporate form as noted above.

Exception

The exception to this requirement is where the bankrupt is not the legal or beneficial owner of the property but is holding title as a trustee or executor.

In such circumstances, the OA need not be involved (and in fact will decline jurisdiction to be involved). The client's self-certification contained in clause 4(c) should be modified by deleting 'not' and to note that the Client is holding title as trustee or executor as the case may be, for example:

“4(c) I am an undischarged bankrupt but hold title as trustee/executor"

Powers of Attorney

Powers of Attorney have not needed to be lodged and registered with LINZ for any e-dealing since the inception of e-dealing in 2003.

High volumes of Powers of Attorney are still being lodged with LINZ every month and are currently the 11th highest instrument by volume.

There is no need to lodge a Power of Attorney with LINZ for anything other than paper dealings. While LINZ will not reject the lodgement of a Power of Attorney (unless it is deficient), it is unnecessary expenditure on behalf of a client for an e-dealing.

The A&I form must have a certified copy of the Power of Attorney and original certificate of non-revocation attached, as would be required for any paper dealing. The A&I needs to be signed by the attorney and it is the identity of the attorney that must be established.

Territorial Authorities

TAs encouraged to start e-certifying

The mandatory date of 1 September 2007 has arrived and surveyors are now required to lodge all subdivisional survey plans electronically with LINZ through Landonline e-survey.  Territorial Authorities (TAs) have the opportunity to streamline their processes by adopting TA e-certification. 

Surveyors who are dealing with TAs not currently certifying plans electronically through TA e-certification will have to print out their e-survey as a paper plan for the TA to certify. As a result, TAs may find themselves under pressure from local surveyors to take up TA e-certification.  If TAs are part of this electronic process, the benefits can be enjoyed by all parties.

As at the end of August, 49 out of a total of 73 TAs have TA e-certification licences.  Of the 49 licenced TAs, 39 have been trained and 30 are actively certifying plans electronically.

Manukau City Council was one of the first TAs in the country to take up TA e-certification, certifying their first cadastral survey plan in 2004.  Case management officer, Benedict Ferguson says  the main benefits for them are a reduction in the administration steps required with paper plans.  “It's a great system.  TA e-certification has sped up processing of cadastral surveys, especially as applications don't need to go through mail and administration systems.”

TAs that have moved from paper to electronic certifications find it time and cost effective and are enjoying the following benefits:

• Improves the speed at which TAs can process Resource Management Act certificates (e.g. section 223 and 224 certificates)
• Reduces the administrative tasks of receiving, processing and storing paper plans
• Increases the integrity of the system and security of plan lodgements
• Releases staff from providing counter support.

Consulting surveyor, Brent George of Andersen & Associates in Christchurch, says he can see the benefits of TA e-certification. “A TA that can e-certify plans streamlines the whole process. Christchurch City Council is very good to deal with.  Their usage of TA e-certification keeps projects moving and shortens the overall project timeframe.” 

TAs interested in using Landonline TA e-certification should contact Customer Support on 0800 ONLINE (0800 665 463), or visit the TA e-certification section on the Landonline website for more information.

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