An implementation of boundary security to land registration system in HKSAR

Abstract

Over the last decades, land development in Hong Kong has highlighted the capacity of existing deeds registration system originally developed in 1844. Of historical reasons, the system has adopted the registration of deeds inherited from the British colonial administration. Under this system, lacking the title of the position causes lots of land boundary disputes nowadays. Recently, Land Registry proposes the Land Titles Bill for the replacement of current deeds registration system. Unwillingly, such proposal has no intention to deal with the long neglected land rights: boundary extent. In other words, the Bill lacks a proper definition of the land registered in the Land Registry. In this circumstance, there is an urgent need to identify and implement an appropriate land registration system with a specific boundary definition in our discussion, in order to improve our land boundary security and to maintain a high level of cadastral survey system in Hong Kong. The purpose of this thesis is to review, analyze and examine upon the problems of the current Hong Kong cadastral survey system, illustrate two typical examples of cadastral survey systems applied in South Africa and Singapore, and make an improvement for the proposed Bill. As such, an appropriate, sound and effective land registration system is the key factor in the support of sustainable development and environmental management.