ADVANTAGES OF THE UNIFIED MULTIPURPOSE LAND
REGISTRY SYSTEM
András OSSKÓ, Hungary
Key words: Unified Land Registry, multipurpose
system, sustainable development,CEECs (Central Eastern European
Countries).
INTRODUCTION
As many countries in Europe and all over the world from the middle
of the 19th century lands and real estate properties were double
registered.
On one hand land and real estate cadastre was created for the
purposes of the state and politics for taxation. On the other hand
there was the factual land registry, which the negotiable and
mortgaged real estate was involved in. The land registers were aiming
at the security of the ownership the unperturbedness of the land
transactions as well as the creditors' interests. The difference
between the land registers and land tax cadastre can be recognised by
the diverging structure and authorisation, since the land registers
were within juridical scope while the land cadastre was a part of the
public administration.
The cadastral map served as common basis for the land registers and
for the land cadastre. The land registers and the land cadastre were
parallel used and mutual data exchange took place between them. After
some time this fact resulted in double data registration, but the data
stemmed from another' sources were not really authentic in the home
files, and this fact caused a lot of uncertainty in the use.
Although in the majority of the countries the two organisations are
still existing under different authority but there are examples where
the legal registry and the cadastre was integrated on legal basis and
organisational level.
AIMS AND SYSTEMS OF THE UNIFIED LAND REGISTRY
There are two aims to be pursued. Legally the land registers
provide a kind of defence for the titles, deeds, etc. to real estate
and also they give certainty for the bona fide holders as well as they
promote the advantageous financial obligations for planning and for
supplying statistical data for the government and organisation of land
utilisation.
The unified Land Registration consists of
- Real estate registration map-this is identical with the
cadastral map and serves also for land surveying purposes.
- Property sheet consists of three parts
- Part I. the descriptive data(parcel number, address, site
area, features of cultivation, soil quality,etc. )
- Part II. titles i.e. data relating to the ownership (name,
birth, address, personal id. number, etc.)
- Part III. all the other titles and deeds( mortgages,
restrictions, easements, etc.)
- The land book contains the descriptive data of every real estate
inside the community arranged according to the parcel number order
showing the extent of the total area as well.
The structure and the content of the unified land registry system
proves that the system can fulfil all the requirements what the two
separate systems - cadastre, land record- together.
Furthermore the system allows to enlarge the land related data
content.
There are objections sometimes against the unified land registry
system, especially in Europe, saying that the separate legal registry
(Grundbuch) acts under court and the unified land registry is not able
to guarantee the same legal security. It is not true. The
institutional structure guarantee the first and second instance within
the public administration and after the second instance decision
clients can go to court.
CHANGES AND NEW CHALLENGES RELATED TO LAND AND PROPERTY DURING THE
LAST DECADE
The question that which land registry systems- the unified or
separate- can fulfil the demand by the economy and the society in the
21st century is not theoretical. The world has been continuously
changing. The speed of changes has been accelerated in recent years
not in the technical field only but in the economy and the world
society as well, creating new challenges to be solved, implemented
world wide.
These changes has extremely influenced the land and property
related activities and the states, governments have to find out
effective solutions, modernising public administrations to answer the
new challenges in the 21st century.
I try to support and prove in my paper that the unified land
registry system is a proper tool to fulfil requirements described
above.
Changes and facts
- Globalisation
- Revolution in the Information Technology
- Political and economical changes in Central Eastern European
Countries
- Increasing gap between developed and developing countries
- Growing population in the developing world
- Rural population moves to urban area
- Lack of security in land tenure in many developing countries /
Bathurst Declaration 1999/
New challenges related to land
- Sustainable development
- Developing active land market in countries in transition and in
developing countries
- Rapid urbanisation in the developing world ( Asia, Africa,
Latin- South America )
- Creating secure land tenure in developing countries
- Supplying sufficient food and drinking water for the world
population / Bathurst Declaration 1999/
ROLES OF FIG AND UN ORGANISATIONS
The solutions and successful implementation of new challenges
related to land and property requires tools, well thought plans and
new kind of legal and institutional framework which can answer to the
new challenges and co-ordinate the essential land related activities.
The majority of countries world wide have recognised the importance
of solving above problems, looking for effective legal, institutional
and technical tools.
The International Federation of Surveyors, FIG, has developed its
new long term strategy during the recent years working out several
programs and issued publications supporting the modernisation of
cadastral systems and land administrations all over the world.
The FIG Commission 7 dealing with cadastre, land management matters
is the flagship of the FIG in this activities.
United Nations has also recognised that the implementation of the
sustainable development is a very complicated and difficult task in
every country, region and through its organisations was looking for
partner NGOs which can give professional support.
UN organisations and FIG especially Commission 7 has been working
together since years, organising events, joint workshops to support
land related activities. It's a common recognition that cadastres and
land registry systems, land management, all together land
administration should be the effective tool and infrastructure for the
sustainable development.
The land and real estate property is one of the most valuable
assets in every nation and the proper registration of land and
property, secure land tenure is essential for developing and
maintaining an active land market in developed, developing countries
and countries in transition as well. The land registration sector is a
key component of a free market economy whereby the safe and secure
transfer of title can be freely conveyed.
In respect of above the role of land administration especially
cadastre and land registry has been growing during the recent years
world wide.
CADASTRE, LAND REGISTRY IN THE WORLD
In developed countries the cadastre and legal registry are working
well, thanks for the technical development and modern technology, but
there are separate organisations.
The situation is very different in the developing countries ( Asia,
Africa, Latin- South America ) and the majority of Central Eastern
European Countries in transition. Which is common in these countries,
there is no well functioning land administration ( cadastre, legal
record ) no secure land tenure and there is a very strong need to
establish or modernising cadastre and land registry systems.
Problems to be solved are various from country to country in CEECs
in transition and in developing countries as well.
In some countries they have to start from the beginning to
establish the modern, effective legal and institutional framework of
land administration. In other countries the task is to re-establish,
restructure land administration sector to make them fully operational
and modernising of the institutional and technical conditions.
In some countries there are fully operational cadastre and legal
registry, the main task is/ was to modernise and improve the technical
conditions and introduce the IT technology. /Osskó-Hopfer 1999/
In many developing countries indigenous populations have no secure
land tenure though informal law is existing and the access to land is
restricted.
About fifty per cent of the occupation of expanding cities in
developing countries is informal people have no secure tenure /
Bathurst Declaration 1999/
In these countries is absolutely essential to improve the security
of tenure providing appropriate tools for registration of informal or
customary tenure.
RECOMMENDED SOLUTION AND PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
The question appears in many countries which is the best solution
concerning the development or re-establishing the cadastre, land
registry systems.
Develop separately the land cadastre and legal record under
different authority or establish the unified land registry system
which is the integration of cadastre and legal record.
Two key publications have been issued by FIG recently based on
experience giving professional guidelines for the future.
The " Cadastre 2014" vision on the future cadastre by
Jürg Kaufmann the chairman of FIG Commission 7 Working group 1.
This publication describes the future of cadastre. In the
publication the "statement 2" says "the separation
between maps and registers will be abolished!" which means, the
integration of cadastre and legal registry.
The other key paper is the Bathurst Declaration, Land
Administration Infrastructure for Sustainable Development, which is
the result of a joint FIG/UN workshop in Bathurst, Australia describes
that an integrated, co-ordinated legal and institutional framework
-land administration- should manage effectively the sustainable
development.
Both publications declare and it's a world trend as well that the
integrated, multipurpose land administration is the most effective
tool to manage the land and property related activities. The most
important elements in the land administration are the well operating
cadastre and land registry organisations. These organisations are
responsible to maintain and register cadastral mapping and legal data
and in the same time they are the data holders concerning land and
property, providing these data for external users.
Today, thanks for the modern information technology, there is no
more technical problem to integrate different land, real estate,
property related legal and mapping data in one computerised data base.
In many developed countries the integration of data has been already
implemented but generally organisations, institutions, responsible for
maintaining, updating above data have been acting under different
authority and they share the income coming from the data service.
According to professional opinions it seems obvious and the "
Cadastre 2014" also declares that the integration of cadastre and
legal registry on legal basis and organisational level, the Unified
Land Registry should be more effective infrastructure for the land,
property related activities.
The statement 6 on " Cadastre 2014 " also says that the
modern cadastre (unified land registry) will be cost recovery in 2014
which means that their income by the data service, registration fees,
other services have to cover the annual budget. How is it possible?
There is no way to increase prices of data or other services too
much because, in this case, users can't or don't want to buy it. What
is the best way to reach the cost recovery? Probably there are more
recipe but I think the integration of cadastre and legal registry, or
in countries where the task is to establish cadastre and land
registry, to develop unified land registry system on legal basis and
institutional level.
The other important step for cost recovery stage is to extend the
data content of cadastre or the land registry as much as possible and
the system become multipurpose land registry. Of course it's very
important to maintain and update all legal, mapping and other data
because only reliable uptodate information should be marketable
therefore the extension of data content depends on the capacity of
cadastre or land registry organisations.
I think above arguments are acceptable from one side but the
achievement is not so easy question.
In countries, where the traditional multi authorisation systems are
well operating (developed countries) there are legal difficulties to
integrate organisations on legal basis and institutional level but on
the other hand it's true that they can generally fulfil all the
demands, using modern technology, requires by the market economy and
the society.
But countries- developing, in transition- where they have to
establish or reconstruct cadastre and land registry and there are no
legal difficulties to develop the Unified Land Registry System, has
many advantages.
TASKS TO BE ACHIEVED IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES IN
TRANSITION
There are tremendous tasks in the developing countries and
countries in transition to be solved quickly, required by changes and
new challenges during the last decade. To implement these important
goals, effective land administration is necessary.
In Central Eastern European countries when they changed their
political system and introducing the market economy have faced several
problems related to land and property. Mass privatisation, ownership
of agricultural land, compensation, restitution, land consolidation
had to be implemented and in the same time the modernisation of legal
and institutional framework was also essential fit to the requirements
by the market economy.There was a very strong need for developing the
information technology and computerisation of cadastre and land
registry organisation.
In developing countries the land reform is one of the most
important task to be achieved. The other important task in the
developing world to be solved is the registration of poor's ownership
or registration of informal rights in the legal registry, etc.
There are experiences and examples that countries (CEECs. in
transition, developing countries) establishing, reconstructing,
modernising new cadastral or land registry systems, the unified land
registry system is more effective and should support the development
of land market,privatization processes much better and quicker then
the multi authorisation systems.
HUNGARIAN EXAMPLE
Hungary is an example in Central Eastern Europe which proves the
advantages of the Unified Land Registry System.
In Hungary the cadastre and legal registry (Grundbuch) was
integrated on legal basis and institutional level in 1971 already.
Reasons of establishing the unified land registry system in
Hungary
- Data integrity and consistency was not well maintained in the
two records
- To avoid parallel data updating and registration
- Reducing number of staff and cost
Thanks for the Unified Land Registry legal and institutional
system, when Hungary introduced the multi party democracy and the
market economy, the country could achieve the most important tasks,
like privatisation processes, compensation, registration of new
ownership and technical modernisation, computerisation of the Land
Registry quicker and more effectively then the majority of countries
in Central Eastern Europe.
ADVANTAGES OF THE UNIFIED LAND REGISTRY SYSTEMS
I tried to describe the most important challenges related to land
and property today and in the near future. The solution of tasks
requires tools and our responsibility is to select the best, most
effective one. The Unified Land Registry can be one of the most
effective tools because of it's advantages comparing with other legal
and institutional systems.
1, Single authority organisation, one decision maker
I think it's obvious when cadastre and legal registry is
integrated, decisions related to land and property have been made by
one authority. In developing countries or countries in transition one
decision maker can co-ordinate effectively the process of land reform,
surveying, mapping, registration of changes, new ownership resulted of
privatisation, compensation procedures. As a result of above the time
of implementing land related acts, laws, procedures is shorter which
is very important in countries introducing the market economy.
2, Legal and mapping data integrity and consistency is much better
The secure land tenure, the quality of data is very important for
investors and users in every countries all over the world. The secure
land tenure, ownership encourage foreign investors from developed
countries to invest which is a key question for developing countries
and countries in transition for developing their market economy and
active land market.
3, Reducing number of staff and running cost of the organisations
The reform of public administration sector is important task
nowadays all over the world.
One of the elements of this reform is to reduce the budget. In case of
separate organisations there is double registration of changes which
means parallel activities. In case of unified land registry system we
avoid parallel activities resulting the reduction the number of staff
and in the same time the reduction of running cost and budget.
4, Workflow, data updating is quicker, the quality of information
should be better the data service is more efficient.
It's obvious that the workflow of legal and mapping data updating
within one organisation is quicker then between two separate
organisations. There is a guarantee by law for simultaneous updating
of the same data on cadastral map and on legal part (property sheet )
of the land registry. As a result of this, the workflow and data
updating process, the quality of information should be better and the
data service is more efficient.
Of course the Unified Land Registry System itself doesn't guarantee
the good quality of information and data but easier to fulfil the
quality requirements.
5, Implementation of technical modernisation, legal and
institutional reform is quicker and more effective.
In countries in transition and in developing countries the
technical modernisation, computerisation, the legal and institutional
reform is essential. The time factor of implementing projects is
important.
The unified land registry is a single authority organisation, there is
one decision maker. Co-ordination and implementation of
computerisation projects are more effective and cheaper. The legal and
institutional reform should be achieved quicker as well.
There are examples and experiences that in countries where the
responsibility of land related activities has been divided between
different authorities projects are not co-ordinated, financial sources
haven't been concentrated, the result of projects have been fragmented
and the efficiency and outputs of programs generally poor.
6, Cost recovery requirement should be achieved easier due to the
multipurpose nature of the Unified Land Registry System.
When the cadastre and legal record is integrated or the unified
land registry is established, the mapping and legal data is owned by
one organisation and the data content should be extended further. It's
easier to produce quality data if the mapping and legal data updating
is simultaneous workflow.
The quality data is valuable data the market accepts it. The
multipurpose unified land registry organisation as the owner of legal
and mapping data can fulfil all the demands concerning land and
property data and the cost recovery expectation can be achieved.
REFERENCES
1999 Bathurst Declaration, Bathurst FIG/UN workshop
Kaufmann J.- Steudler D. 1998 Cadastre 2014
Osskó A.- Niklasz L. 1999 The multipurpose unified land registry
as one of the essential pillars of developing the active land market
Osskó A.- Hopfer A. 1999 Eastern Europes' lessons from the past
and aspirations for the future: running to catch-up or blazing a new
path?
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
András Osskó
Deputy Director of Budapest Land Office (BLO) and Head of Cadastral
Survey Department
Academic experience
- Dipl. Ing. Land Surveyor MSc. Budapest Technical University
- Dipl. Certified Engineer, Budapest Technical University
Employment
- Head of Cadastral Survey Department in Budapest Land Office
(Unified Land Registry ) 1970-75, 1987-
- Head of Cadastral Survey Department of Hungarian Surveying and
Mapping Co. Budapest 1975-77, 1979-82
- International Expert in Land Surveying, Nigeria 1977-79,
1982.-86
Practical experience
- Cadastral Surveying and Mapping 1966-
- International expert in cadastre, digital large scale mapping
and land registry matters, 1977-
- Advisor, consultant in EU Phare projects" Computerisation
of Land Offices" in Hungary, 1991-
- BLO project manager of the Swiss- Hungarian project on the
Budapest Land Offices LIS 1994-99
- Judical expert in cadastre, unified land registry, real estate
valuation 1990-
Professional membership:
- Member Hungarian Society of Surveying Mapping and Remote Sensing
(MFTTT) 1971-
- Member Chamber of Judical Experts, 1996-
- Hungarian Delegate for FIG Commission 7, 1995-
- Chairman FIG Commission 7 Working group 3 on Land Market, 1998-
CONTACT
András Osskó
Chairperson of FIG Working Group 7.3
Deputy Director
Fővárosi Földhivatal (Budapest Land Office)
Sas U 19
H-1051 Budapest
HUNGARY
Tel. + 36 1 302 3052
Fax + 36 1 302 3049
E-mail: ffhigazg@elender.hu
14 April 2001
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