1. Area:5,467 square miles – 14,160 square kilometres 220 miles of coastline – 531 kilometres Six Counties:Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Tyrone Population:1.81 million NORTHERN IRELAND

2. Land Registry operates three Registers:  Registry of Deeds – paper based system, no map. Operational since 1708. No Government Guarantee of Title.  Land Registry – map based system, operational since 1892. Carries Government Guarantee of Title.  Statutory Charges Register – map based system, operational since 1970. Contains details of statutory charges which affect lands eg Listed Buildings/Tree Preservation Orders.

3.  Land Registry is part of Land & Property Services (LPS), formed as an Agency in 2007 but deagentised in 2013. The other parts of LPS are:  Valuation & Mapping (formerly Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland);  Revenues & Benefits (dealing with payment of rates and rate reliefs); and  Business Services (dealing with Corporate Governance).

4.  We operate under a private Finance Initiative Contract with British Telecom (BT) – contract for 15 years from 2004 to 2019.  Contract was to transform Land Registry from a paper based organisation to an IT based organisation – now almost all work done electronically.  Our in-house IT system is Landweb.  Our Direct Access Customer System is Landweb Direct – customers can view Folios and Maps on-line but must request copies of other documents.

5. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS  Technical upgrade of Landweb System currently underway:  E-signatures.  E-payments.  E-discharges.  Review of Land Registration Act (NI) 1970 and Land Registration Rules (NI) 1994.  Commencement of two year Positional Improvement Programme to upgrade Land Registry Maps.  Accommodation move May/June 2014.  Digitisation of the Registry of Deeds Archive.