Operating under the trading fund model with flexible deployment of resources, the Land Registry (LR) provides value-for-money and quality services to respond to and fulfill the service needs of the community and customers.

e-Alert Service

There have been cases where mortgage borrowers have further mortgaged their properties without seeking prior consent from the first mortgagee Authorised Institutions (AIs). In this connection, LR and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) started discussing and exploring effective means to monitor unauthorised further mortgages in 2015. The e-Alert Service was then launched in February 2017 for AIs under the Banking Ordinance (Cap.155 Laws of Hong Kong) (i.e. licensed banks, restricted licence banks and deposit-taking companies) in order to help them better manage credit risk in mortgage lending and safeguard the stability of the banking system in Hong Kong.

Upon subscribing to the e-Alert Service for properties mortgaged to them, AIs will receive electronic notifications from LR when further charge/mortgage documents in respect of the relevant properties are lodged for registration with LR. To subscribe to the e-Alert Service, AIs must obtain prior written consent from the property owners concerned in compliance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486 Laws of Hong Kong). Property owners may also opt to receive the same electronic notifications relating to their properties issued by LR free of charge. Such service arrangements will enable both the AIs and the property owners to receive the information at the same time and facilitate their appropriate follow-up actions.

A highly effective 4-Win service initiative

Since the introduction of the e-Alert Service, its subscription rate has been increasing continuously. During the years 2017-18 and 2018-19, the number of mortgages using the service accounted for over 70% and 95% respectively of the total number of mortgages registered in LR during the year. The service facilitates HKMA in performing its supervisory role to strengthen AIs’ credit risks management in mortgage lending and enhance the stability of the banking system in Hong Kong. It also enables AIs to manage the credit risks associated with mortgage lending more effectively and property owners to detect mortgage fraud. Moreover, the service has generated a new and stable source of income for LR in support of continuous service improvement. The e-Alert Service is certainly a 4-Win service initiative.