Comparison of Two Land Administration Systems - Coursework Example

Comparison of two land administration systems Name Course Tutor Date Executive Summary The paper is all about land administration systems in South Africa and Hungary. Every nation around the world has its own land administration system; these systems vary because of different factors that affected the nation in the past or that are affecting the nation in the current times. Sometimes, these systems tend to resemble especially in countries that are in the same regions. Nevertheless, countries that are far apart such as South Africa and Hungary tend to have very different land administration systems. In recent times, nearly every nation around the world has embarked on the land reforms to enhance national social and economic integration. Many developed countries such as those of Europe have an advanced land administration systems unlike in many developing countries where we still have more remote systems that have got many loopholes that can be used by well-off people to exploit others. Introduction Land administration is the process of recording and dissemination of the information about land ownership, its value and the associated resources. The process of land administration involves adjudication of rights, the survey, description, documentation and other associated attributes about land (Dale 2000.p.32). The united nation commission for Europe was the first to adopt the term land administration. The primary aim for adoption of this process was to secure the title ownership of the land. This came about after the realization that without access to secure property rights, the economies of nations would not grow also the there will be no sustainable development. In the current times, the main goal of land administration system in many countries is the facilitation of the operation of the land market. We have different kinds of land administration systems; this varies from country to country and from one region to another Williamson, et al (2010). The variation is caused by the differences in the legal systems, cultural practices and historical factors. Dale (2000) enlightens us that in some communities around the world, land is not regarded as a tradable commodity even though it is perceived to have value. While in other communities, land is taken to be a tradable commodity since it can be bought and sold by converting it into cash. This paper is going to focus on land administration in South Africa and Hungary. First, there paper will have to discuss the conditions that should be present for any land administration system. The paper will focus on how land is administered in each of these countries. Factors that promote efficient land administration Radical land administration reforms have recently taken place in eastern and central parts of Europe. The reforms are part of the efforts European nations are showing that they are supporting the European action for co-operation in the economic field (ACE) program (Dale 2000.p.32). Research and other land reports reveal that for there to be efficient and stable land administration system to encourage sustainable development, some factors must prevail. These factors are; we must have a clear definition and good administration of the property rights. Sound property administration brings order and respect in the ownership of properties. Secondly, there should be at least some restrictions on the property use of the property Williamson, et al (2010). The state should demand individuals and entities to use the available property consistent to the common good. Thirdly, there should be a simpler and less expensive process to transfer property ownership rights. The process should not involve so many procedures that are time consuming and the transfer charges should be lower for anyone to afford (Dale 2000.p.32). The fourth factor is that transparency and honesty should prevail during the transference process. People exchanging the rights of property such as land should disclose all the relevant information concerning the property being transferred in the process. Finally, capital and credit facilities should be available to enable those willing to have the rights of ownership of the property to get them easily (Larson, 1991.p.7). When all these conditions manifest in any nation, it is obvious that there will be an efficient property market to and this will support sustainable development. As mentioned earlier on, there is no uniformity in land administration among the nations. Therefore, many differences exist and these differences have become a challenge to the economic and social integration of the various nations Williamson, et al (2010). Issues of land has slowed some business projects, has led to the misunderstandings between people and firms. This is just due to the confusion and the varying systems used to manage this property. Several land reforms ought to be done to streamline the entire process. The first reform is that the land registers have to reflect the way the land property owned by someone is used (Dale 2000.p.32). This will enable appropriate services to be given to the property and the citizens would be in a position to understand the full rights. This reform has been adopted in Scandinavia where the buildings on land property are included in the register. This has brought some clear process in the property transfer in this country and other nations should ape the same. The second necessary reforms that should be done to bring sanity in this system is that all institutional elements should be put in place. Most of these elements need amendments of existing laws or enactment of laws that caters for this system. The new laws should touch on the ownership, privacy, copyrights, the liability and the exploitation of land related data (Larson, 1991.p.7). Lastly, the change of attitude towards land as a whole should be given a sharper focus by governments. They should take information concerning ownership of property to be very important and be committed to update this information on regular basis. In simple terms, we are meaning that land administration systems must evolve and transform to offer a modern framework within which the goal of sustainable development will be achieved. Land administration in South Africa Sound land administration is very crucial to the land reforms and stability in the country. South Africa is one of the nations that have recently taken the issue of land administration with a lot of seriousness (Landman, 2006.p.2). This came after the realization that the land reforms are necessary to enhance both social and economic development in the country. In South Africa, there exist wide ranges of land tenure systems that apply on many smallholders irrigation schemes. The systems include; trust tenure, traditional tenure, freehold tenure, quitrent and leasehold tenure. Trust tenure system was applied by the state on the land that was in the native regions that initially belonged to the European settlers Monona, et al. (2010). This land was later own bought y the state native trust which was referred to as South Africa development trust (SADT). Trust tenure system was also applied when small-scale irrigation schemes were created on the tribal land. Trust tenure system often had negotiation between the tribal leadership and the government. The traditional tenure system applied on the arable land, which was usually obtained through the tribal chief or even the village headmen. This system applied where land was available for allocation as long as the applicants are married and intended to stay on that land permanently Monona, et al. (2010). Traditional tenure system also applied on the schemes that were created in recent years. In quitrent tenure system, land was technically owned by the state, this accompanied a perpetual usufruct right given to the holder of the land. The right held and involved an annual payment of “qui rent” that has also certain laid conditions that were supposed to be adhered to. Freehold tenure system often relates to individuals although is limited to some provinces such as Cape Province and KwaZulu-natal. Freehold and quitrent systems apply in Zanyokwe in eastern part of Cape Province Monona, et al. (2010). The last decade has seen revitalization interventions by the government of South Africa. The state has changed its focus to adopt the leasehold tenure system where there is commercial partnership where land is consolidated thereafter it is leased through co-operatives. All these land tenure systems in South Africa reveal that there is still no standard tenure system implying that land administration in this nation is still a problem. However, we have various land reforms that have taken place in this nation. Generally, the process of land reforms and efficient land administration is underway unlike in other developing countries. Several land policies have been drawn in the recent years to streamline the issues to do with land ownership and tenure (Landman, 2006p.2). Many legal aspects that apply to land tenure have been reconfigured are still going on by the state. This reconfiguration aims at making land as a resource to comply with the general farming practices, proper building and maintenance of roads network and the construction of new irrigation schemes. Some of the land policy reforms that have taken place in South Africa are as follows. First, the state enacted a land tenure upgrading right policy in 1991 commonly known as act 112 of 199. This policy provides for the land upgrading and the conversion of particular rights that are in respect to the land Manona et al (2010p.11). It aimed at transferring of the tribal land to be in full ownership to the tribe. All the rights vested to such land were also transferred the tribes. When land was fully given to the tribes, it implied that the people in the tribes would have to utilize this land efficiently without the fear that it will be taken by the state or any other firm. This encouraged individual investor to establish permanent investments with no fear. This new land policy was the one of the first and major steps taken by the South African state to start the journey of land administration reforms. The second land reform policy known as “development facilitation” was drawn in 1995, which is contained in act 67 of 1995. The main purpose of the introduction of this policy was to provide for the security of tenure through proper formalization, Manona et al (2010:11). The policy stated that the community or the tribe should be regarded as the co-owner of the land. This should be practiced even the though the formal legal ownership of the land may be held by the government. Security of tenure means that the government or other organizations cannot harass the legible owners of the land. They land owners are given all the rights to use the land property as they wish. The third policy that was drawn in 1996 was called community property association. This policy is contained in the Act 28 of 1996, Manona et al (2010:12). This policy enhances community members to come up with legal persons commonly known as communal property associations. The legal persons should be formed in order to hold acquire and manage land property as agreed by the members who formed the entity. Since the adoption of this policy, many associations have been formed and have registered as legal entities. This has made the once fallow land to become productive because these associations have established different projects in the country hence boosting sustainable development. Another policy was drawn in the same year i.e. 1996. It is called interim protection of informal land rights; it is under act 31 of 1996. The main purpose of this policy is to provide temporary protection of particular informal land rights Manona et al (2010:12). It also aims to give protection to the land, which is not adequately protected by the law in the constitution and the matters connected to it. This policy has greatly reduced the issues of land grapping by individuals and business firms who were fond of grapping any land that seem not to have the right ownership. Finally, we had the communal land rights policy that was drawn in 2004; it is under act 11 of 2004. This policy main purpose was to be the primary tool to provide legally secure tenure, comparable redress, setting up of land rights boards, democratic land administration and amendment of the laws that were inherited from apartheid era Manona et al (2010:11). This policy has greatly transformed land ownership procedures, ownership and tenure. Citizens can now do all these processes without complications since everything is now protected in the law. Land administration in Hungary The department of land administration in Hungary is under the ministry of rural development. This department has the responsibility of administering and regulation of national land surveying. It also carries out land mapping, remote sensing, land protection, land tenure and land and property registration (Ivan 2011:2).In many countries in Western and central Europe, right from the mid 19th century, property such as real estate were double registered. The double registration was due to the two main systems that were used in this country to register land. This actually brought a lot of confusion especially when someone wanted to acquire the ownership of land. The two systems that were used to register land in Hungary were the land cadastre and land registers (Toronyi 2011:3). Cadastre system was created for the purpose of the state and for taxation matters. On the other hand, land registers that involved the negotiable and mortgaged real estate. While the cadastre system aimed at taxation politics and the state, land registers aimed at the secure ownership of land transaction and the creditors’ interests. The distinction between cadastre and land registers can only be seen by diverging the structure and the authorization (Toronyi 2011:4). Actually, the land registers were vested within the law while cadastre was part of public administration. Both these systems were parallel used and there was exchange of data between the two hence resulting to double registration. The confusion that was brought by double registration was discussed and there was a consensus that land records should not be kept parallel however, a unified system should be adopted. In 1972, the unified system of registration was established (Toronyi 2011:5). The unified system consisted of the rights and the data concerning the real estate legal status. This new system of land registration was completed in 1981. By the year 2007, the land office organization became self-financing. Right now in Hungary, the legal documents and the cadastre maps are done in digital form (Ivan 2011:1). The number of cadastral parcels is 7.3 million while those of registered units are 2.5 million. More innovations have been done in the department of land administration in Hungary in that there is a long-term strategic concept for the implementation of e-land administration. The main goals for this strategy are the improvement of land administration services through the internet for a variety of users (Toronyi 2011:7). The second goal of this strategy is the rationalization of resources requirements for operation. Thirdly, this will increase the effectiveness of land registry by giving clients quality services. The last goal for e-land administration is the establishment of digital land offices to enhance the provision of controlled base of the national spatial data. In establishment of e-land administration, there is a project known as TAKARNET network (Toronyi 2011:7). This project aims at providing land registration services on 24-hour basis instead of the usual eight. The new version of TAKARNET enables the inclusion of land registry in e-government functions. Moreover, TAKARNET has enabled the establishment of central data warehouse which provide value added products and other effective statistics (Ivan 2011:2). The project also aimed at the unification of land registry data by establishing unified code lists. This shows that land administration in Hungary is very effective, unlike in South Africa where we still have different kinds of systems. In Hungary, we have several legal acts that determine land administration activities. First, we have the act of surveying and mapping activities. The main goal of this act is to determine the work of the government in mapping and surveying. It establishes a system that provides maps in a cost-effective manner for the entire economic (Ivan 2011:5). Secondly, we have the act on land registry, which defines a unified land registry. This implied that the legal and cadastre map part is made of one system. The unified land registry principles are; title and its effects, Authenticity, deed, publicity, rank and application. We also have act on arable land and act on forestland. Comparison summary South Africa and Hungary’s land administration systems are varies at a greater deal. This variation is due to the historical factors of these two nations that are found in different Geographical regions. As discussed earlier, South Africa has about four land administration systems that are applicable in some provinces. We have trust tenure system, traditional tenure system, freehold and leasehold tenure system. Some of these systems apply in some parts of the country and cannot apply in some other parts. On the other hand, in Hungary we have about four land administration systems i.e. cadastre system, registry system and unified registry system that is a blend of the cadastre and register. In addition to these three, recently more innovations have been done and we have now e-land registration system. Therefore, Hungarians land administration is high-tech as compared to South Africa, which is local and manual. Many land reform acts have been passed in South Africa since early 1970 to eliminate the injustices the apartheid era brought to the nations. We had the land tenure upgrading act, development facilitation act, communal property act, interim protection act and communal land rights that mainly aimed at to relieve the citizens from the confusion and historical injustices. However, in Hungary, there was no public exploitation because the country was civilized earlier. The only issue is that there was confusion between the two land administration systems i.e. cadastre and register, but later on a unified system was developed to eliminate this confusion. Conclusion Land administration is one of the oldest and important sectors in any government. Land as a natural resource contribute to about half of the resources of any country. Therefore, its management should be efficient in order for the country to improve its economic performance. Many nations around the world strive to mange this scarce resource as effective as possible however; the management systems tend to vary from one country to another. The variation depends on various factors such as historical and social-economic status. Many developed countries have established more sophisticated and effective land administration. This is reason why their economies have remained stable for a long period unlike in developing nations where the administration is still poor. All along, every nation be it from developed or developing nations is trying to make reforms in land issues. Bibliographic references. Dale, P & McLaughlin, J 1999, Land administration, Oxford University Press, United Kingdom. Ivan Gyula. (2011). Future trends in Hungarian land administration. Accessed on we 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://www.fig.net/pub/fig2011/papers/ts05b/ts05b_ivan_5139.pdf Landman, J.C (2006). Designing first qualification in land administration in South Africa using the principle of outcome based education. Accessed on web 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://www.fig.net/pub/accra/papers/ts08/ts08_02_landman.pdf Larson, G. (1991). Land registration and cadastral systems: tools for land transformation and management. New Yoke. Longman Scientific and technical; Wiley. Legislation.qld.gov.au. (2012). Queensland government. Accessed on web 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/OQPCHOME.htm Monona, Siyabu et al. (2010). Proposed land tenure and land administration interventions to increase productivity in smallholders irrigation schemes in South Africa. Accessed on web 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://www.phuhlisani.com/oid%5Cdownloads%5CManona%20et%20al.pdf Rost. R,O &Collins, G. (1991). Land valuation and compensation in Australia. Australian institute of valuers. Toronyi, Bence.(2011). Overview of Hungarian land administration. Accessed on web 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://www.eurocadastre.org/pdf/Budapest_june_2010/PCC_Overview_of_Hun_LA_Tor onyi.pdf Williamson, I, Enemark, S, Wallace, J & Rajabifard, A. (2010). Land administration for sustainable development. ESRI, Australia. Worldbank.org. (2006). Land Administration: Indicators of success, future challenges. Accessed on web 26th Aug 2012. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/RPDLPROGRAM/Resources/459596- 1161903702549/S8_Burns.pdf Rost & Collins 1991, Land valuation and compensation in Australia, Australian Institute of Valuers. Whipple 1995, Property valuation and analysis, Law Book Company. Read More