Panel 6: Public Provision of Land Information: Registry and Cadastre

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1 Panel 6: Public Provision of Land Information: Registry and Cadastre LGI 6.2 Dimension Total cost of recording a property transfer is low. This dimension verifies that the fees charged for registering property transfers are not exceedingly high in view of property values but that they are enough to cover operating costs. The transfer costs considers all the official fees in the registry and other organizations that provide information or services necessary to register the transfer, such as notaries, lawyers, surveyors, municipalities, tax authorities etc. List the procedures or documentation required for registering a property transfer for property valued at [ ] Transfer Related Costs [cost or % of value] Example (The Gambia) Total cost of recording a property transfer is low. The transfer process is expensive and the procedure is cumbersome. The computation of the Capital Gain Tax as a percentage of value introduces some degree of discretion which results in uncertainty. In principle, the value to be applied should be the value for which the property has been sold and this is subject to the honesty of the seller. Due to the high taxes property owners are prone to under-declare the true value of their properties. As a result, the Government has come up with its own guideline of calculating the value rate which is not published but yet applied by the Gambia Revenue Authority to determine both capital gains tax and stamp duty. Procedures/documentation required for registering a property transfer for property value date Leased Property 1. Capital gain tax 2. Stamp duty 3. Registration 4. Consent form Customary Tenure 1. Area Council transfer fee 2. Clearance & occupancy fee 3. Capital gains tax 4. Alkalo fee 5. Chief fee 6. Lawyer s fee 7. Surveyor s fee Transfer Related Costs [cost or % of value] % of property value (individuals) or 15-25% of the gain (companies), whichever is higher 2. 5% of transfer value 3. D 1, D D 4, D % of property value or 15-25% of the gain whichever is higher % of property value 5. D 1,500 flat % 7. D 3,000 to D 5,000

2 Stamp duty which is payable by the buyer is 5% of the purchase price. Up to another 3-5% is payable by the buyer to a lawyer. This excludes the capital gains tax payable by seller. In addition the assignment of a lease requires the permission of the Minister otherwise it would not be registered. If this permission is not followed through as it progresses from the Department to the Ministry it can take months sometimes years. The buyer may have to employ agents to pursue the application. While customary land is not registered in the registry and a transfer of a customary title does not require registration, such a transfer requires recording with the area council. The fees payable in such a process is even higher than the transfer of registered land, because the Alkalo and Chief would also have to be paid, although the services of a lawyer are not a necessity in the latter case. There are also too many intermediaries/land agents who are totally unregulated. Estate agents are collecting money from anxious clients without any assurance that the services they are contracting are genuine. The agent s fees can be up to 10% usually paid by the seller. Dimension Information held in records is linked to maps that reflect current reality. Example (Vietnam) Information held in records is linked to maps that reflect current reality. According to the local incomplete reports, over the past 3 years, the nation has surveyed and mapped about 13,648,120 ha, of which the majority is forestry land (about 11,904,510 ha at rate 1/10,000); the provinces that conduct survey, allocation, LURC issuance for forestry land (in accordance with Decision No.672/QĐ-TTg dated 28 April 2006 of Prime Minister) have basically accomplished surveying and mapping forestry land. Surveying and mapping activities in 37 provinces which received financial support from Central budget over the past 3 years witness remarkable raise in results (about 1,241,736 ha, accounting for 69% total surveyed and mapped area nation-wide regardless of map of forestry land). Panel members told that cadastral registration, setting up cadastre and grant land use right certificates have improved in 2013 under resolution of the National Assembly. According to the latest data at the end of 2013, the dimension is ranked at Category B. Dimension All relevant private encumbrances are recorded. This dimension assesses the recording of the economic relevance of the information that is contained in the registry. Economically relevant private encumbrances may include mortgages or liens. List the types of encumbrances that are recorded and the cost for accessing these.

3 Example (The Philippines) All relevant private encumbrances are recorded. Recording of private encumbrances are on voluntary or on-demand process but are recorded consistently and in a reliable fashion as annotation at the back of Box 5. Private Encumbrances recorded on the title the titles. Registration and release of mortgages Court or judicial orders PhP 60 Long-term leases Sale of portion or partial transfer Conditional sale Option to purchase or promise to sell Sale subject to redemption or repurchase/redemption of properties sold Surety and bonds Powers of attorney, letters of administration, appointment of guardian, resolution or revocation PhP 120 Levy Adverse claims Lis pendens PhP 30 Extra-judicial settlement Right or ways Rent contract Attachments Building and improvements PhP 60 Where no fee is specified, registration or annotation of this encumbrances will require payment of registration fee which uses a schedule (from a low of PhP 21 to a high of PhP 8,796) based on the assessed value of the land or the amount in consideration whichever is higher, plus issuance and certification fee and IT service fee (PhP /deed, instrument or entry). Anybody interested to check or verify encumbrances attached to the title can access it for a fee (PhP IT service fee for query/research). They can also secure true copies of the title/documents for a fee. Dimension All relevant public restrictions or charges are recorded. No additional instructions Example (Malawi) All relevant public restrictions or charges are recorded. According to the experts on the panel and the registry, the current status for this dimension in Malawi is that relevant public restrictions or charges are usually recorded and in a reliable fashion and can be verified at a low cost by any interested party. Charges e.g. search fees are recorded and payment are made at a central accounts office. For security reasons, only registry officials are allowed to enter and search documents in the registry. There are very few public restrictions that can be considered and these may include public roads and road reserves, reserved areas, historical sites and other protected areas. However, there are many valuable uses of land that are not protected. These include river line areas, forest areas, national parks, watershed areas and mountains. These are considered to be public land but nobody has title deeds over them as they are easily encroached or misused. These require their restrictions to be clearly recorded and publicly disseminated.

4 Dimension There is a timely response to requests for accessing registry records. This dimension s focus is on the registry s land records management. Example (The Philippines) There is a timely response to requests for accessing registry records. Obtaining copies or extracts of documents from the different Registry of Deeds Offices is reasonably easy and fast. Even in Registries still using manual process (such as Legaszpi City RoD) these can be secured within the day of request. Interviews of clients coming from Legazpi City, San Carlos City, Ilocos Norte, Bayawan City mostly revealed that it is not difficult to get certified/true copies of titles and other documents from the RoD and most get it within the day of request (interviewees were selected from clients who are transacting with the local assessor s office) The LTCP has made this process even more accessible and faster. That is for titles that are already in the system. However, for titles or documents that are not yet in the system the time taken to actually obtain the requested copies can vary from 3 weeks to 3 months. Actual observations were made in 3 of the computerized RoD (San Carlos, Ilocos Norte and Negros Occidental) and generally those clients who requested copies of titles of documents obtain it within the day. In less than 10% of cases their requested copies cannot be provided within the day as these involved relatively recent transactions and the titles/documents are not yet in the system. Officers of Banks such as Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Rizal Commercial banking Corporation (RCBC), Philippine National Bank (PNB), Allied Bank gave good ratings indicating that they can usually get their request within the day or at least the day after they made their request. A more important concern however, is the reliability of records kept at the registry. While access to information is fast and easy, the RoDs do not retire old records which partly explains why searching by name would yield various records, even if these pertain to the same property. Dimension The registry is searchable. Registry (or other sources of land ownership) information is searchable by parcel and right holder and extracts or copies of records can be provided within a reasonable time. Example (Nigeria) The registry is searchable. Registries are the repositories of records of lands allocated, titled and registered within the jurisdiction of that Registry. Every plot registered is based on the presentation of a Certificate of Occupancy which of necessity must have a duly endorsed Title Deed Plan, certified by the appropriate survey authority, describing the spatial coverage of the plot and its geographic coordinates. Also included are the legal and

5 locational description of the land, the holder and the terms of the allocation. These are then confirmed on the base map which provides a master map for lands allocated in the locality of the subject plot. Consequently, all rights are recorded with a full description of the plot and the right holder and any search could use either the name of the holder or the description of the parcel to access information on the plot. This is true whether it is an analog registry or a digital registry. Thus, as long as a plot of land has been registered it can be searched by right holder s name and parcel. Dimension Land information records are easily accessed. Information in the registry (or other sources of land ownership records) can be accessed readily by all interested parties. Example (The Philippines) Land information records are easily accessed. Titles and other documents in the different Registry are considered public document and by operation can be accessed by anyone. The searching of the records of the RODs is permitted by Property Registration Decree Section 56 therein provides: All records and papers relative to registered land in the office of the Register of Deeds shall be open to the public in the same manner as court records, subject to such reasonable regulations as the Register of Deeds, under the direction of the Commissioner of Land Registration (now administrator of LRA), may prescribe. The LTCP has made it more accessible to the public such that anywhere, there is an on-line RoD, anybody can search for pertinent title information. An interested person in Manila can go to any of the on-line Registry anywhere in Manila to secure copies of titles or title information for lands located in Cebu City for example or anywhere as long as the RoD in the location of interest is also already on-line. Access to the information or copies of the title documents do require payment of fees, including the IT service fee. Securing a certified or true copy for 1 title for example can cost PhP