Hong Kong records property under a deeds registration system. The Development Bureau says title registration will remove the need to verify documents to confirm title in a transaction and to keep title deeds for many years. The Land Titles Ordinance (Cap. 585) was enacted in 2004 but has not yet come into operation. The Legislative Council passed the Registration of Titles and Land (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2025 on 25 September 2025 so that the system can start on new land first.

What was gazetted

The package makes four new pieces of subsidiary legislation under the Land Titles Ordinance and amends four under the Land Registration Ordinance (Cap. 128), the High Court Ordinance (Cap. 4) and the District Court Ordinance (Cap. 336). The eight are:

  • Land Titles Regulation
  • Land Titles Indemnity Regulation
  • Land Titles (Fees and Levies) Regulation
  • Land Titles (Determination of Indemnity Cap) Notice
  • Land Registration (Amendment) Regulation 2026
  • Land Registration Fees (Amendment) Regulation 2026
  • Rules of the High Court (Amendment) Rules 2026
  • Rules of the District Court (Amendment) Rules 2026

They cover registration applications and their processing by the Land Registry, the Land Titles Indemnity Fund and indemnity claims, new fee items, electronic applications under the current deeds system, and court proceedings. The release gives no fee amounts.

Who it applies to

The bureau defines new land as "land held under a government lease granted on or after the date on which the amended Title Ordinance comes into operation". It says this will generally include land granted on or after that date by land sale, by private treaty grant and by land exchange. Existing land under the Land Registration Ordinance "will continue to be governed by the current deeds registration system until it is converted to the title registration system". The release sets no date for converting existing land and mentions no change to who may buy property in Hong Kong.

When

The eight pieces will be tabled at the Legislative Council on 21 October 2026 for negative vetting. The amended ordinance and the other subsidiary legislation will come into operation on a date to be specified separately by the Secretary for Development in the first half of 2027.

One part runs on a later timetable. The release says that "upon passage", certain provisions on electronic applications in the Land Registration (Amendment) Regulation 2026 and the Land Registration Fees (Amendment) Regulation 2026 will come into force on 4 October 2027, in tandem with the e-lodgement system. Those two regulations amend the current deeds registration system, which existing land stays on, to bring it in line with the title registration system.

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Sources

Sources read 17 October 2026 (SGT).