Minister for Land Information Matt Robson today announced the approval of phase two of the Landonline project which, when complete, will see routine land transfers by conveyancers and survey transactions by surveyors able to be lodged and processed electronically.

Cabinet’s approval this week for Land Information New Zealand to proceed with phase two of its Landonline project is “a milestone,” according to Matt Robson.

“This LINZ Landonline project team can now complete the significant work they’ve been doing and help move New Zealand’s land dealings into the 21st century,” Matt Robson said.

Matt Robson noted that the approval of phase two should mean that the final cost of Landonline will come in within the approved overall budget set in 1999.

In 1997 the Government agreed to automate LINZ’s land titles and survey business. Landonline’s first phase (CRS1 – Core Records System) involved the construction and implementation of a database integrating core geodetic and cadastral survey plans and title records in electronic form. This allows solicitors, surveyors, search agents and other land professionals to make title and survey searches electronically without having to visit a LINZ office. The first stage has already been implemented in Otago and Southland.

The second phase of Landonline – CRS2, due for implementation late next year – will enable the electronic lodgement and processing of routine land transfer transactions by conveyancers and of survey transactions by surveyors.

LINZ chief executive, Dr Russ Ballard, agreed that Cabinet’s approval of phase two of Landonline was a significant step in a major project that was likely to have international benefits for New Zealand.

“It’s the combination of CRS 1 and 2 that makes the Landonline project a world first,” said Dr Ballard. “It’s already attracted interest from Australia, the Philippines and the United States.”

“For well over a hundred years New Zealand’s land dealings – the transactions, the surveys, the plans – have been paper based. LINZ’s shelf space grows at over a kilometre a year just to keep up. Now, the digital age is here and I can see the day when LINZ could well become a virtual agency.”

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) holds more than 30 million land records and annually provides 1.5 million title searches, processes 900,000 land transactions and approves 18,000 survey plans. But as a result, LINZ’s shelf space for paper records increases by over one kilometre each year. Many records also date back to early European settlement and are an important part of New Zealand’s history.

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