(b) Search Services

Land records are maintained by the Land Registry for the purpose of providing information platform on property ownership to facilitate property transactions.

In 2010/11, the total number of searches of land registers and supply of imaged copies and photocopies of land records were 6,382,360 (+9.7% from previous year) and 812,099 (+12.7% from previous year) respectively.

Since February 2005, the Land Registry has been providing search services over the internet via our IRIS Online Services at www.iris.gov.hk for 16 hours a day, seven days a week. With the successful launch of the new search system in August 2010, the stability and resilience of the system was enhanced and search hours of the online search service were extended to 20 hours daily, i.e. from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day. The public can conduct searches either on an ad hoc or subscription basis. Searches conducted online constituted about 91% of the total search volume. The remaining 9% were conducted over the counter. Counter search service is available at our Customer Centre in Queensway Government Offices and the New Territories Search Offices (NTSOs) in Tai Po, Yuen Long and Tsuen Wan districts.

The number of subscribers increased by 98 (+12%), reaching a record of 916 by March 2011.