The Property Registration Authority (PRA) has, over the past number of years, embarked on an ambitious programme of development of its online services. Major milestones during that period include:
- Online services: Originally launched in 1999, the service was re-branded as landdirect.ie in 2006 co-inciding with the completion of Phase 1 of Digital Mapping, which also provided additional facilities based on the digital map. This service now provides convenient and ready access to a comprehensive range of Land Registry records for our customers
- Electronic Form 17: This facility allows customers to pre-lodge applications for registration and has many benefits over the traditional paper Form 17, including system verification of information and the automatic completion of many of the required fields in the form
- Document Imaging: The completion of this project facilitated online access to the entire register of over 1.8 million folios and their corresponding Filed Plan maps
- Digital Mapping: The digital mapping system provides a range of new services and allows customers to access details of the boundaries of registered land parcels. The project, which is scheduled for completion in 2010, will result in the digitisation of 15 million boundaries. As of 1st September 2008, the digitisation process has been fully completed in 13 counties and map searching is available for the entire country.
All of these developments have contributed to significant improvements in efficiency while preserving and safeguarding the register. They have also allowed the PRA to provide a completely integrated system to support land registration.
The next phase in this programme will be the development and implementation of a system of electronic registration (eRegistration) which will form part of the wider eConveyancing project. This will commence with a system for the electronic discharges of registered charges which will be central to the development of further electronic registration capabilities and ultimately eConveyancing. All of the work which we have undertaken to date now provides the foundation for the development of eRegistration services.
eDischarges
A Project Board mandated to take this project forward was established in late 2006 and, recognising the importance of stakeholder engagement in the development of a successful system, representatives of the Law Society, the Irish Mortgage Council, the Revenue Commissioners and the Companies Registration Office were invited onto the board. It is planned to conduct a phased roll out of eRegistration beginning with eDischarges early in 2009. In partnership with the Law Society and Irish Mortgage Council, the PRA have now developed a model for eDischarges. This system will be more secure and efficient than the existing process, where significant delays are inherent.
The agreed principles of eDischarges are
- eDischarge will be lodged by the lender
- An online application will be completed and submitted electronically – there will be no paper in the process
- There will be electronic 3rd party notification of the completion of the discharge to solicitors whose e-mail address will be supplied by the lodging party
- The system will be “Automated” not “Automatic” – the PRA will continue to sign off on the cancellation of charges from the register
- The process will be governed by a new set of Rules, S.I. 326 of 2008, which came into effect on 1st September 2008
It is planned to run a “pilot” for eDischarges in the first quarter of 2009 and go into a fully live environment in April 2009. If you require any further information on eDischarges, please contact eregistration@prai.ie.
Page first published - 4th September 2008