China to reduce immovable property registration time

The State Council issued a circular on March 10 to reduce the time required for immovable property registration.

According to the circular, the time required for general registration and mortgage registration of immovable property should be cut to no more than 10 and five working days, respectively, in all cities and counties across the country by the end of this year. And both should be reduced to no more than five working days before the end of 2020.

Information sharing and integration should be promoted among departments to increase information quality and usage efficiency. Related departments should provide information on immovable property registration in a timely manner and strengthen coordination with registration institutions to achieve connectivity and sharing before the end of 2019.

Efforts should be made to make full use of such technologies as the internet, big data, facial recognition and online payment to promote “Internet Plus immovable property registration”, said the document. An online registration center with various platforms, like web and WeChat versions, should be established to make applications available at any time and any place.

Meanwhile, local government should accelerate the integration and quality improvement of stock data and complete data improvement and exchanges before the end of 2019, said the document.

Additionally, the circular also stressed the integrated process with optimized procedures and streamlined materials. A comprehensive window should be established at the administrative service hall or immovable property registration hall to deal with related items and collect all materials in one visit.

Unnecessary and similar procedures of property registration should be incorporated, and application materials should be streamlined. Materials that can be obtained through information sharing should not be submitted, and hard to obtain materials, such as certificates on death and relative relationships, should be replaced with a written document.

In places where information sharing and integrated process are not available, convenient services can be offered through centralized work, said the document.