Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

M.Comm. / Stakeholders in the process of transfer of immovable property often argue that transfers take too long. This perception impacts unfavourably on investments in property, as well as on the effective management by conveyancing attorneys of their practices. Different views exist, however, as to how long transfers actually take in practice and as regards the period of time that would constitute a reasonable duration for a typical transfer. The purpose of the study is firstly to establish, by means of empirical research, how long transfers should take, given the factors that influence their duration, and secondly to determine how long transfers actually take in practice. The study identifies the factors that influence the duration of transfers. Based on the observations of practising conveyancers, it then proceeds to establish that typical transfers (transfers resulting from certain defined property transactions) should be registered within 6 to 12 weeks (42 to 84 days) from the date of sale. Some conveyancers prefer to express the duration of transfers in months rather than weeks, and state that two to three months (60 to 90 days) represent a normal spectrum of duration for typical transfers. A model is then developed, based on PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Techniques), that determines the minimum and maximum duration that could reasonably be expected with regard to typical transfers. These periods are calculated as 35 days and 97 days respectively. A reasonable, "average" period for typical transfers is calculated as 63 days. Based on the above findings, the study recommends a duration of 60 to 70 days as a reasonable time span for typical transfers. This period constitutes a theoretical benchmark against which the duration of typical transfers may be measured. The thesis then proceeds to calculate the real duration of typical transfers, based on information regarding transfers that had actually been registered in South African deeds offices over a period of seven years and ten months. With the aid of electronic data it is calculated that typical transfers take an average of 90.15 days from conclusion of sale to date of registration. The median of duration is determined as 85 days and the mode as 70 days. A ten day incrementalX analysis reflects the ten day category of 61 to 70 days as the category in which the most typical transfers occur. Certain trends regarding the duration of transfers are established. Sectional title transfers are on average registered 1. 7 days faster than freehold transfers. A year-on-year comparison shows a reduction in the figure for average duration of typical transfers during the years 1995 to 1999, but average duration increases substantially in 2000 and 2001. In some deeds registries transfers are on average registered faster than in others, but no relationship is found between the volume of registrations in a particular deeds office and the average duration of these transfers. A relationship is found to exist, however, between the price bracket of a property and the duration of the transfer. Broadly speaking it can be said that the higher the price, the shorter the duration of the transfer. At first glance it appears that, generally speaking, transfers actually take as long -or ·as short- as they are in theory supposed to take. Further analysis show, however, that a mere 35.28% of typical transfers are registered within 70 days or less. Only 54.46% of typical transfers take 90 days or less to register. The fact that so many actual registrations fail to meet the theoretical standards described in the study leads to tre conclusion that the unfavourable perception about the duration of transfers has some merit. The thesis recommends that conveyancers use the findings of the study as management tools in the day to day management of their conveyancing practices. A follow- on study that addresses the unfavourable perception about the duration of transfers in more detail is also recommended.

陳潔珊. / 書名中之「貯」「履」二字原為金文. / 論文(碩士) -- 香港中文大學硏究院中國語言及文學學部, 1997. / 參考文獻: leaves 281-302. / Chen Jieshan. / Chapter 第一章 --- 引言 --- p.1 / 第一章注釋 --- p.4 / Chapter 第二章 --- 金文中的「？」字 --- p.5 / Chapter (1) --- 金文中「？」字及「？田」的解釋 --- p.5 / Chapter (a) --- 「？」隸定爲「？」（「貯」）字 --- p.5 / Chapter (b) --- 「？田」即「租田」說 --- p.16 / Chapter (c) --- 「？田」即「賈田」說 --- p.26 / Chapter (d) --- 「？田」即「予田」或「舍田」說 --- p.41 / Chapter (e) --- 「？田」即「償田」說 --- p.46 / Chapter (f) --- 「？田」即「除田」說 --- p.47 / Chapter (g) --- 「？」、「？」義近說 --- p.48 / Chapter (2) --- 小結 --- p.50 / 第二章 注釋 --- p.53 / Chapter 第三章 --- 金文中的「舍」字 --- p.78 / Chapter (1) --- 金文中「舍」字及「舍田」的解釋 --- p.78 / Chapter (a) --- 「舍」即「賜予」說 --- p.78 / Chapter (b) --- 「舍田」即「予田」說 --- p.88 / Chapter (2） --- 小結 --- p.94 / 第三章 注釋 --- p.104 / Chapter 第四章 --- 金文中的「？」字 --- p.114 / Chapter (1) --- 《散氏盤》「？」字的解釋 --- p.114 / Chapter (a) --- 「？」即「眉」字說 --- p.114 / Chapter (i) --- 「？」」即「堳埒」的「堳」 --- p.114 / Chapter (ii) --- 「？」即周初微國 --- p.120 / Chapter (b) --- 「？」即「履」字說 --- p.123 / Chapter (2) --- 金文「履田」考 --- p.129 / Chapter (3) --- 小結 --- p.144 / 第四章 注釋 --- p.152 / Chapter 第五章 --- 金文中的「封」字 --- p.167 / Chapter (1) --- 金文中「封」字的解釋 --- p.167 / Chapter (2) --- 「封」、「邦」二字同源考 --- p.172 / Chapter (3) --- 金文中有關封疆劃界的記載 --- p.180 / Chapter (4) --- 小結 --- p.191 / 第五章 注釋 --- p.194 / Chapter 第六章 --- 「？田」、「舍田」、「履田」、「立封」所反映的西 周土地交換情況 --- p.201 / Chapter (1) --- 土地交換並非私下買賣 --- p.201 / Chapter (2) --- 土地交換的原因 --- p.207 / Chapter (3) --- 土地交換的程序 --- p.210 / Chapter (4) --- 小結 --- p.223 / 第六章 注釋 --- p.226 / Chapter 第七章 --- 總結 --- p.236 / 第七章 注釋 --- p.242 / 附錄 --- p.243 / 附錄一 本文引用銘文的拓本及釋文 --- p.243 / 附錄二 《毛公鼎》銘「？」字考釋 --- p.273 / 附錄三 《牆盤》銘「？」字考釋 --- p.276 / 參考書目 --- p.281

Abstract not available

In 1982 the governments of Honduras and the United States signed a contract that established the Proyecto de Titulación de Tierras, or land titling project. This project was initiated primarily to provide titles to small coffee farmers on State-owned land. Among the expected consequences of the project were increased access to resources, especially credit, for small farmers and increased on-farm investment due to this access to credit and increased security. It was hoped that a greater use of credit and investment would increase farm production and therefore the income and well-being of the farmers involved. In this dissertation, the land titling project is placed within the context of the history of agrarian reform in Honduras. The titling project called for a baseline study and final evaluation. These were carried out in 1983 and 1988, respectively. The author was able to obtain these data and re-interview the same farmers in 1993. These farmers are from two regions, one of which was titled and another which was not. The interviews gathered data on production, credit, use of inputs, investments, income and general socio-economic indicators. These data are used to determine the extent to which the goals of the tiding project have been met. A stochastic frontier production function is used to estimate farm-level technical efficiency. Following this, these technical efficiency scores are regressed on various factors such as education, credit and technical assistance to estimate their possible effects on technical efficiency. Finally, simultaneous equations are used to estimate the relationships among these variables. In general, ten years after the start of the project, the original goals have not been achieved. This analysis found that titling does not affect technical efficiency, access to credit, or the use of inputs. Education and technical assistance are the two factors that are consistently the most significant in meeting the project's stated goals. This analysis suggests that basic education and technical assistance, rather than expensive land titling projects, should be promoted to enhance access to credit, the use of inputs and increased technical efficiency.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The delivery of land administration (LA) systems particularly in urban areas underpins housing, industry and infrastructure development as well as the smooth operation of land and credit markets. However, fragmentation of LA activities across several autonomous organizations generally impairs end to end business processes flow and delivery. To facilitate improved service of LA systems we suggest the end to end measurement and monitoring of their business processes across organizational boundaries. This study proposes a performance measurement system that can facilitate end to end measurement and comparison of cross organizational business processes (CBPs) in LA. The research, which is structured in 2 parts, is based on a multi site study of LA CBPs in 6 urban municipalities across Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. First, a measurement instrument (scorecard) built on six key CBP performance measurement areas of quality and technological innovation (enablers of results), cost and time (measures of results) and customer satisfaction and society (measures of external success (or impact), is presented. To facilitate measurement across organizational boundaries, the proposed dimensions were embedded onto a multi level structural model that link process activities to sub processes and CBPs. For 5 of the 6 municipalities, a conventional case of subdivision of privately owned land within an established township was used to develop CBP descriptions and process models for each municipality. A comparison of CBP and sub process similarities between municipalities was then done using the similarity scenario degree. Our results showed similarities of over 60% for most CBPs while mixed values were obtained for sub processes. The similarity results were further used as a base for the construction of a business process reference model. The second part of the research tested the applicability of quality and time dimensions. Using the survey examination and approval and deeds examination and approval sub processes, the quality of submitted work was measured using performance indicators of process yield and rejection rates at 2 survey examination and 3 deeds registration sites. Our results showed that 80% and 60% of survey records submitted at both survey examination sites were rejected and returned backwards for corrections due to quality deficits. Based on our results, we conducted a root cause analysis at one of the survey examination sites to identify major contributors to lower process yield. In addition, we suggested numerous technological innovations to improve quality. Using the same sites, we then went on to measure and compare cycle times for cadastral survey examination and approval considering quality. Our results showed that 70% and 52% of survey records with good quality had approval times of 20 days or less for the first and second sites, respectively while only 32% and 18% of records with poor quality (for same sites) were approved within 60 days. Furthermore, shorter cycle times appeared to indicate lower process costs. After the separate analysis of the quality and time measurements, a global performance index that aggregates individual measures into a composite value was presented. Overall, the study has shown the potential of end to end CBP performance measurement in improving delivery and service of land administration in a holistic manner. The results are important for initiatives directed at integration and improvement of land administration operations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Includes bibliographical references. The origins of the Torrens System of land registration are not clear. Examines the claim of Dr. Ulrich Hübbe who asserted that he collaborated with Torrens to bring about the adoption of the land law of his hometown Hamburg in the form of the Real Property Act 1858 (SA). An historical examination (collecting and analysing all relevant historical sources), shows that it is likely that Hübbe was the actual draftsman, while a comparative legal analysis (contrasting Hamburg's land law at the beginning of the 19th century with the first bill of the Act) demonstrates that there is a strong similarity between Hamburg's land registration system and the original Torrens System; and, that the outstanding differences between the systems can be explained by the natural adaptation processes which are implied by the adoption of laws.

Numerous land reform policy instruments and initiatives that have been implemented since the beginning of the 1990's are mediating the on-going battle between formal land tenure systems and informal customary land tenure arrangements. The policy instruments and initiatives seek to establish a delicate balance that will suit the diverse needs of the population of South Africa with respect to land. The enormity of this task is evident when one is faced with the reality that South Africa has the third highest Gini index (a measure of inequality in the distribution of land) in the world. The Eastern Cape Province is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, and has been affected most by the land segregationist and homeland policies of previous colonial and apartheid regimes. It is not only the unequal distribution of land, but also the vast array of insecure tenure arrangements that have had a detrimental effect on the development and empowerment of communities resident on communal land. This research analyses one initiative that intends to strengthen the security of tenure of existing occupants of communal land in the remote rural areas of the Eastern Cape Province. The research critically appraises the Administrative Area Boundary Project of the Department of Land Affairs (that aims to identify and complete the formal surveys of all administrative area boundaries in the Eastern Cape) in the light of the intentions of the Communal Land Rights Act (No. 11 of 2004) (CLaRA), and highlights the challenges in formalising the informal tenure arrangements of occupants of communal land. The different aspects of the Administrative Area Boundary Project (both office work and field work) were evaluated in order to determine not only its feasibility, but also its impact as an effective instrument of land reform in its endeavour to provide secure land rights to millions of South Africans residing in former homeland areas. To this end, both desktop and case study methodologies were used in order to collect and analyse the research data. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the conveyancing process in South Africa with a view to identify how the process might be improved in terms of its efficiency and effectiveness. Land is an asset and still remains a valuable factor in production, even in the modern knowledge economy. In many parts of the world, land is a limited resource, therefore, in most countries, custodianship and ownership of land and landed properties generally tend to be guarded through the meticulous capturing, recording and storage of appropriate data and information. Legislative provisions for the transfer of custodianship and/or ownership require the involvement of a variety of role players in the conveyancing processes that culminate in the registration of land and associated immovable property. In some countries, the conveyancing processes tend to be complex and cumbersome. The study provides a conceptual framework for conveyancing processes based on a content-based review of land and immovable property registration systems in five countries, namely, Barbados, the Netherlands, Australia, Taiwan and South Africa. The study further investigates the South African conveyancing processes. Quantitative questionnaires were completed by six respondent groups from the conveyancing service chain, and qualitative interviews were conducted with two of the four major banks in South Africa. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings were used to develop a de-bottlenecking framework for South African conveyancing. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)