Land Registration: Managing Information for Land Administration

357 Pages·2007·23.67 MB·English

LAND REGISTRATION:
MANAGING INFORMATION
FOR LAND ADMINISTRATION
S. NICHOLS
August 1993
TECHNICAL REPORT
NO. 168
PREFACE

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LAND REGISTRATION:
MANAGING INFORMATION FOR
LAND ADMINISTRATION
Susan E. Nichols
Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400
Fredericton, N.B.
Canada
E3B 5A3
August 1993
Latest Reprinting February 1997
©Susan E. Nichols, 1993
PREFACE
This technical report is a reproduction of a dissertation, entitled Land Registration in an
Information Management Environment, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Surveying Engineering,
September 1992. The research was supervised by Dr. John McLaughlin, and funding was
provided partially by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and by Energy, Mines and Resources
Canada.
As with any copyrighted material, permission to reprint or quote extensively from this
report must be received from the author. The citation to this work should appear as
follows:
Nichols, S.E. (1993). Land Registration: Managing Information for Land Administration.
Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Surveying Engineering Technical Report No.
168, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, 340
pp.
ABSTRACT
A narrow conveyancing perspective in land registration has led to the development
of numerous unconnected, specialized registries in most jurisdictions, each maintaining a
specific set of land tenure information. A focus on complex legal procedures has also
inhibited innovation and system reform. The objective of this research has been to
demonstrate how land registration can be more effectively designed to meet broader land
management requirements. The conclusion is that this can be accomplished by putting
greater emphasis on the information management function of land registration.
This thesis provides a synthesis of land registration from an information
management perspective. It examines the requirements for tenure information in land
management and land administration and develops models for these processes to
demonstrate the potential role of land registration. Problems in existing land registration
arrangements and recent trends in system development are reviewed.
A set of conceptual models has been designed to describe land registration
functions, processes, information, and systems from an information management
perspective. One of the advantages of the models is that they are independent of specific
legal, technical, or administrative arrangements. Using these models, the thesis provides
a methodology for evaluating land registration systems and requirements, and a
framework for identifying appropriate reform options and developing reform strategies.
The research was based on a detailed analysis of requirements in three Canadian
jurisdictions, on an evaluation of the Swedish Land Data Bank System, and on site visits
in other countries. Although the case studies led to the development of the theoretical
models, the research also made practical contributions. The studies became a focus for
improved government co-ordination in Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories. In
Prince Edward Island the research also contributed to new government policy and
departmental reorganization to improve the management of land tenure information.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Abstract 11
List of Figures viii
List of Tables X
Acknowledgments Xl
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Land Registration Defined 4
1.1.1 System concepts 4
1.1.2 Information management concepts 5
1.1.3 Land tenure concepts 6
1.1.4 Land registration concepts 7
1.2 The Land Registration Problems 9
1.2.1 The land management problem 10
1.2.2 The information management problem 12
1.2.3 The system management problem 14
1.3 Research Objectives and Methodology 16
1.4 Research Contributions and Thesis Organization 20
1.5 Endnotes 22
2. THE LAND MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS 26
2.1 Land Tenure 27
2.1.1 Real property 28
2.1.2 Property systems 29
2.1.3 Land tenure: broadening the property horizons 31
2.1.4 Land tenure systems 32
2.2 Land Management 35
2.2.1 Objectives and functions 35
2.2.2 Processes 39
2.3 Land Administration 41
2.3.1 Objectives and functions 41
2.3.2 Processes 44
2.4 Land Management Trends and their Implications for Land Registration 47
2.4.1 Integrated management 47
2.4.2 Multidisciplinary approaches 48
2.4.3 Informed citizen participation 49
2.4.4 New types of interests 50
2.4.5 Managing rapidly growing urban centres 51
2.4.6 Summary of requirements 52
2.5 Issues for Further Research 53
2.6 Endnotes 56
iii
3 . LAND ADMINISTRATION REQUIREMENTS 6 0
3.1 Parcel Delimitation 61
3.1.1 Background 61
3.1.2 Activities 62
3.1.3 Priority requirements 64
3.1.4 Problems identified in the case studies 66
3.2 Allocation of Interests 67
3.2.1 Activities 67
3.2.2 Priority requirements 70
3.2.3 Problems identified in the case studies 71
3.3 Regulation 72
3.3.1 Activities 72
3.3.2 Priority requirements 74
3.3.3 Problems identified in the case studies 75
3.4 Valuation and Taxation 7 6
3.4.1 Background 76
3.4.2 Activities 78
3.4.3 Priority requirements 78
3.4.4 Problems identified in the case studies 80
3.5 Conveyancing 81
3.5.1 Activities 82
3.5.2 Priority requirements 84
3.5.3 Problems identified in the case studies 85
3.6 Summary of Priority Requirements 85
3.6.1 Information requirements 86
3.6.2 Other operational, management, and policy requirements 87
3.7 Issues for Further Research 88
3.8 Endnotes 92
4. LAND REGISTRATION: A CRITIQUE 95
4.1 Land Registration: An Overview from Four Perspectives 96
4.1.1 The cadastral perspective: land and information 96
4.1.2 The land policy perspective: land and tenure 100
4.1.3 The conveyancing perspective: tenure and systems 101
4.1.4 The technology perspective: information and systems 105
4.2 Land Registration Systems: A Critique 108
4.2.1 Specialization 109
4.2.2 Complexity and Inflexibility 110
4.2.3 Incompleteness 112
iv
4. LAND REGISTRATION: A CRITIQUE (CON'T.)
4.3 Current and Future Trends in Land Registration 113
4.3.1 LIS development 113
4.3.2 Technology 115
4.2.3 Cadastral surveys and mapping -parcel delimitation 115
4.2.4 Law and administration 116
4.2.5 Policy 117
4.4 Issues for Further Research 118
4.5 Endnotes 120
5. DESIGN OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT MODELS
FOR LAND REGISTRATION 123
5.1 Designing information management models 125
5.1.1 Design criteria 125
5.1.2 An information management perspective 126
5.2 The Objectives and Functions of Land Registration 129
5.2.1 Objectives 129
5.2.2 Functions 131
5.3 The Land Tenure Information 135
5.3.1 Land registration information 135
5.3.2 A relational model for information management 142
5.4 The Land Registration Processes 146
5.5. Land Registration Systems 152
5.5.1 The system model 152
5.5.2 The community of systems 158
5.5.3 The system environment 161
5.6 Assessment and Issues for Further Research 163
5.7 Endnotes 166
6. SYSTEM MANAGEMENT: STRATEGIES FOR REFORM 169
6.1 Special Issues in Managing Land Registration Reform 170
6.1.1 Types of reforms 171
6.1.2 Special concerns in land registration reform 173
6.2 Evaluating Requirements 175
6.2.1 Methodology 176
6.2.2 Issues in evaluation 181
v
6. SYSTEM MANAGEMENT: STRATEGIES FOR REFORM (CON'T)
6.3 A Framework for Identifying Options and Designing Strategies 183
6.3.1 Identifying options 183
6.3.2 Designing reform strategies 185
6.4 Assessment and Issues for Further Research 189
6.5 Endnotes 192
7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 194
7.1 The Role of Land Registration in Land Management 181
7.2 Land Registration from an Information Management Perspective 183
7.3 System Management for Land Registration Reform 187
7.4 Summary of Contributions 189
7.5 Endnotes 191
REFERENCES 192
APPENDIX I: Requirements for Land Tenure Information
in Newfoundland 201
APPENDIX II: An Organizational Strategy for Co-ordinating
Land Tenure Information in Prince Edward Island 2 7 7
APPENDIX III: Management of a Land Tenure Information System:
What can be Learned from Sweden? 293
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LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE
1. 1 Land registration in an information environment 3
1.2 Land information system 6
1. 3 Land tenure information 8
1. 4 Types of system reforms 14
1 . 5 Research methodology 17
2.1 The land management framework 27
2.2 Important factors in describing land tenure systems 33
2.3 Examples of land use and resource management 36
2.4 Land management functions and the objective of sustainable development 37
2.5 Primary land management processes 39
2.6 Land administration functions 42
2.7 Primary land administration processes 45
2.8 The information role of land registration in land management 46
2.9 An initial framework for land reform with examples 54
3.1 Example of the NWT cadastral survey activities 63
3.2 General process of allocating interests in the NWT 68
3.3 Example of the NWT allocation process in communities 69
3.4 Example of the NWT management review process 73
3.5 Example of the PEl property assessment process 79
3.6 Example of the NWT conveyancing process 83
4.1 Four perspectives on land registration 97
4.2 The multipurpose cadastre concept 99
4.3 Simpson's classification of land record systems 106
4.4 Examples of tenure information currently available in most
land registration systems 112
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