Every year, the Kadaster (the Dutch cadastre, land registry and mapping agency) processes one million deeds relating to real estate. Until 1 September 2005, deeds could be submitted to the Kadaster only by post or in person. Because there was an unnecessary delay before the deed was recorded, this led to a short period of legal uncertainty, and a delay in payment for the transaction. With Electronic Conveyancing, the notary or court bailiff can submit the deed to the Kadaster digitally at the touch of a button. The deed is automatically given a unique identification and displayed digitally, with proof of receipt and registration created automatically.
Policy Context
By introducing Electronic Conveyancing the Kadaster is making an important contribution to the efforts of the Dutch government to have 65% of public service provision performed electronically in 2007. At the heart of Electronic Conveyancing lie the eGovernment objectives such as reducing the administrative burden and improving efficiency. Notaries can now submit deeds more easily, more quickly and more cheaply. Citizens and businesses also benefit from these improvements indirectly, since notaries can charge lower fees (Dutch notaries operate in a competitive market). In technical terms the Kadaster’s policy is that open standards must be used (in the following order: Worldwide, European, National) and that the system must harmonise with the basic Dutch eGovernment provisions. Electronic Conveyancing is based on open standards and complies with the Dutch Government PKI. Initially the Kadaster had developed the application exclusively for notaries. After discussion in Brussels, this was modified to a version which was accessible to all. ‘Leaving no-one behind/inclusion’ thereby became applicable to Electronic Conveyancing. This also improved the usefulness: more parties can now use it, and we are also going to use it for the submission of documents by parties other than notaries and court bailiffs. Electronic Conveyancing fits very well into the Kadaster’s strategic objectives, task and mission: to ensure reliable data (facilitating legal certainty) at the lowest possible cost. The Kadaster is thereby also fulfilling its wish to be a major player in the market for real estate information. The management role which the Kadaster is seeking in the public sector on strategic grounds is strengthened by the introduction of this application. It was necessary to amend the Kadasterwet (Cadastre Act) in order to implement Electronic Conveyancing (the Kadaster is regulated by law in the Netherlands).
Description of target users and groups
Notaries account for 95-98 % of the deeds, the other deeds come from bailiffs, local authorities, provincial councils and waterboard authorities.
Description of the way to implement the initiative
Umbrella organisations and software suppliers were involved with the project from the start. Prior to the actual implementation, a pilot was done with 15 future clients. They used the application for a three week period. The experiences gained served as input for the actual implementation process. This pilot was carried out because the submitters were going to be submitting in a different way and the creation of an application link creates a greater technical interwovenness between KNB [Royal Dutch Notarial Society] and the Kadaster. It was vital to the success of Electronic Conveyancing. A team was put together for the implementation who assisted the clients.The team had direct points of contact at suppliers, lawyers and technicians in order to deal with queries as efficiently as possible. In addition, account managers were given all the software on a laptop, in order to be able to show clients the simplicity of the system. The one-to-one relationship between account manager and client led to a rapid acceptance, and took away a number of clients’ fear of the unknown. The close collaboration with the umbrella organisations, the certification service provider and the software suppliers meant that the implementation process went smoothly.
Technology solution
The web application is really a technological tour de force, whereby technology is integrated in an ingenious way. The good thing is that this is virtually entirely transparent for the end-user. Apart from the installation of the software and the one-off entry of particular settings, it is exceptionally easy to use. The deeds must be submitted in PDF format. This means that clients must convert their deeds to this format from MS Office or other packages. The Kadaster initially developed the web application for clients (particularly bailiffs’ offices) who did not have the financial resources to develop such an application themselves. This web application was then made available free of change to all submitters, in order to make the threshold to electronic submission as low as possible. The free use undoubtedly contributed to the success. The application is also so simply designed that it can be used by clients who do not have their own IT supplier or IT department.
Technology choice: Mainly (or only) open standardsMain results, benefits and impacts
The Kadaster is the first land registry organisation in the world to make it possible for notaries (and later also other target groups) to submit deeds digitally for registration in the public registers. This not only means that this process runs more quickly, more accurately and more easily, but it also enhances the legal certainty for house buyers. The fact that a high percentage of our clients have switched to the use of the web application in a short space of time is a clear sign of the high level of appreciation amongst notaries and bailiffs. The importance of the application is emphasised by the fact that the official launch of the system in October 2005 was performed by the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. For the Kadaster itself this is an important step on the path to a fully digital land registry. The benefits of processing deeds electronically are self-evident. In addition to the saving in terms of time and money (no paper or courier costs) the processing is no longer delayed by late postal deliveries. Because the deed can be registered by the Kadaster within 5 minutes of being sent by the notary, the risk of premature seizure of the house is substantially reduced. House buyers have access to their money sooner and have greater legal certainty about the status of their purchase when executing the deed. The migration to Electronic Conveyancing was promoted by the Kadaster in close collaboration with notaries and court bailiffs. The Kadaster opted for a personal approach to clients in order to persuade them to use Electronic Conveyancing. Software suppliers and clients were informed about Electronic Conveyancing and the benefits that it offers at information sessions. We then monitored closely which clients were not yet using Electronic Conveyancing. We increased the user-friendliness of Electronic Conveyancing where necessary and we helped clients with the technical implementation where necessary. There is a direct saving forecast of 2.64 minutes per document for each document submitted electronically. The client receives a discount of 10 euros per submitted document. The impact is sustainable.
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableTrack record of sharing
The Kadaster has shared the experiences gained with the Ministry of Justice, the Social Insurance Bank and the Chamber of Commerce (with this Chamber discussions are ongoing about joint use of the application. The Kadaster has also given presentations about Electronic Conveyancing at a seminar of e-provinces (November 2004, Haarlem) and the infosecurity conference (Utrecht, October 2006). Presentations about this system have been given to delegations from Australia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain and Uzbekistan. Presentations were also given at a FIG seminar about e-government in Austria (Innsbruck, June 2004), an e-government conference in Egypt (Cairo, September 2004) and an e-government conference in Indonesia (Jakarta, November 2006). Finally we have had an intensive exchange of ideas with our British colleagues at Her Majesty’s Land Registry. In May 2007 the Kadaster hosted an international conference for registrars on the subject of e-conveyancing which was attended by 28 countries. The case is very suitable for use by other administrations.
Lessons learnt
Lesson 1 - Projects which are dependent on complicated legislation are particularly difficult to predict in terms of turnaround time. In this case the portal component had been developed as far back as 2000, whilst legislation took another five years. The advice is to wait until the end of the legislative process is in sight before starting such a project. Lesson 2 - For the use of smartcards and certificates the Kadaster has opted not to issue these itself, but to make use of commercial companies. A government organisation is too small to build the entire infrastructure needed for this itself; it is more efficient to leave this to the market. It also offers the possibility that clients can use their smartcard for multiple purposes. Notaries can use their smartcard with the Centraal Testamenten Register (Central Register of Wills), the Chamber of Commerce and the Kadaster. Because of the great importance of the application the Kadaster took the initiative to have it tested by a major company in the field of security, Madison Gurkha. This recent investigation gave a positive opinion about the level of security. Lesson 3 - Collaboration within the chain is very important. The good support from important key players within the user groups certainly resulted in fast acceptance amongst end-users. This was very valuable in the communications.
Scope: National