LAND
ADMINISTRATION
AND MANAGEMENT
Lecture 1
By:Louie P. Balicanta of UP Diliman
OUTLINE
DIFFERENT
CONCEPTS OF LAND
LAND ADMINISTRATION
LAND TENURE AND
REGISTRATION
Definition of Land
 Many
different definitions depending on
where you are coming from
 “land
is the surface of the earth, the
materials beneath it, the air above and all
things fixed to the soil” (Dale and
McLaughlin 1988)
Concepts of Land
a
physical thing which encompasses the
Earth’s surface including those above and
below it
 an
abstract thing referring to a set of rights
to trade it even though it cannot be moved

described in terms of: area (sq. m),
climatological (tropical), geological
features (alluvial plains), use
(residential/commercial/agricultural)
Conflicting Views of Land
 Land
is a property
◦ from Judeo-Christian belief
◦ Can be subdued it
◦ deeply established in society today
 Land
is a natural resource
◦ Must be conserved
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: “marriage” of the 2 views
Control of Land
 Land
Tenure: “the holding of property over a
specified period of time or reference to a superior”
 Exercised
by owner: surface rights, access,
boundaries and adverse occupancy, water rights,
owner liability, subsurface rights and above-surface
rights
 Exercised
by superior: the rights to tax, to condemn,
exercise police power and escheat or the authority to
revert land property to government ownership
The Cadastral Parcel
Interests in land – land itself is not owned, but
the right to use the land in conformity with
community laws, practices and expectations.
The Cadastral Parcel and
Land-Use Control
Man and Land Relationship
Man and Land Relationship
 Relationship
is dynamic
 Driven by economic paradigm in the past
 Increasingly tempered by environmental
and social priorities
 Current global drivers are sustainable
development, globalization, IT,
urbanization and economic reform
THE LAND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO THE
CHANGING HUMANKIND TO LAND RELATIONSHIP
Economic driver for land
administration in rural areas
Land Administration
- Is the processes of regulating land and
property development and the use and
conservation of land, the gathering of
revenues from the land through sales,
leasing and taxation, and the resolving
of conflicts concerning the ownership
and use of land (Dale and McLaughlin,
1999)
Land Administration
Land administration is the process
of determining, recording and
disseminating information about the
tenure, value and use of land when
implementing land management
policies (UNECE, 1996)
Land Administration
It is considered to include land
registration, cadastral surveying and
mapping, fiscal, legal and multipurpose cadastres and parcel based
land information systems, and in
many systems information
supporting land use planning and
Land Administration
Those
public sector activities
required to support the alienation,
use, valuation, and transfer of
land (Dale and McLaughlin, 1999)
The functions involved in
implementing land management
policies.
Land Administration World
according to Van der Molen
Land Management
"the
management of all aspects of
land including the formation of land
policies" (Dale & McLaughlin 1988)
"the process of managing the use and
development of land resources in a
sustainable way." (Bill Robertson,
1998)
Land Management Arrangements
(Dale and McLaughlin, 1988)
Functions of Land Administration
 Juridical/
Judicial - adjudication and
registration of rights in land.
 Regulatory - development and use of land
through restrictions, zoning mechanisms and
designations of areas of special interest such
as reservations and natural parks.
 Fiscal - emphasizes on the economic utility of
land such as increasing revenue collection
and production.
Managing land consists of …
Monitoring
and information gathering
Planning and testing models to develop
alternative actions
Policy making
Implementing policy including legal
reform
Further monitoring and review of policy
effectiveness
Land Information Management
How
can one manage or
administer something which
he/she has no information about?
Information on ownership as well
as value and use of land helps to
further land administration
objectives.
Land Information System (LIS)

the role of land information
management: establish a LIS

The most common form of
an LIS is a cadastre -“a
marriage of technical record
on the parcellation of land
and an authoritative
documentary record of
fiscal or proprietary
nature”.

GEs play a major role in
establishing an LIS
3 key attributes of land to be
managed
Land Tenure
The mode in which rights to land are held (Bathurst
Declaration 1999)
 Rights in land (Glossary Bruce 1998)
 Comprises the habitual and/or legal rights that individuals
or groups have to land, and the resulting social relationships
between the members of the group (GTZ Book page 2)
 Involves a complex set of rules, frequently referred to as a
“bundle of rights”. A given resource may have multiple
users, each of whom has a particular rights to the resource
(Holding their ground, 2002)

-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200627
Land Tenure
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200627
Land Tenure and Land
Administration
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200627
Land Tenure and Land
Administration
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200627
Land Tenure Security

Exist when an individual perceives that he or
she has right to a piece of land on a
continuous basis, free from imposition or
interference of outside resources, as well as
the ability to reap the benefits of labour and
capita invested in that land, either in use or
upon transfer to another holder. ( Bruce &
Migot Adholla, 1993)
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200633
Land Tenure Security
 Describes
an agreement between an individual or
group to land and residential property which is
governed and regulated by a legal and
administrative framework. (UNCHS, 1998)
 The
certainty that those possessing rights can be
certain that their rights will be valid as long as
they are not revoked in a legal and
comprehensive way. (GTZ-book, 1998)
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200633
How to provide Land Tenure
Security ?

Institutional Level:
- land policy
- legal framework and social inclusion
- public administration

Operational Level:
- land registration and cadastre

Context of good governance and the rule of law
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200633
Land Registration
The
formalization of land tenure is achieved
through the registration of the land and the
granting of the land title.
Land registration systems provide the means
for recognizing formalized property rights,
and for regulating the character and transfer
of these rights.
Land Registration
Land titling is the process of
adjudicating rights in land, surveying
and mapping those rights and usually
establishing the cadastral office and
land registry to store and manage the
associated maps, titles and deeds.
Types of Transaction Evidence
3 Types of Land Registration
1.
Private Conveyancing - interests in land are transferred by
signing, sealing, and delivery of documents between private
individuals
2.
Deed Registration – registration of deeds of transfer without
providing evidence of its legality (word registration often
replaced by recording)
3.
Title Registration – registration of the legal consequence of
a transaction providing evidence of its legality (word
registration often used for registrations providing evidence
of title)
-ITC lecture, Land Administration for the Southeast Asian Region, 4-15 Sept. 200638
Torrens System
 originated
by Sir Robert Torrens of Australia
 based on the Merchant Shipping Acts
 system of the registration of interests in
land in which documents are closely
regulated, monitored, and examined by the
recording authority to ensure that they are
correct and that title is transferred without
flaw
3 Principles of Torrens System
The mirror principle – registration
reflects the correct current situation
2. The curtain principle – no need for
investigations in the past
3. The insurance principle – the State
assumes responsibility for the
authenticity of the register
1.
Recording rights, restrictions
and responsibilities
Ownership
 Easements
 Restrictions as to user
 Rights of way
 Native Title rights
 Mortgages
 Leases

Certificate of Title

There are three components in a Torrens Certificate of
Title:
1. Parcel Section - identifies the parcel, gives it a unique
identifier and describes the Metes and Bounds
2. Proprietorship Section - identifies the owner
3. Encumbrances Section - identifies any other interests
in the parcel such as a mortgage, an easement or a
restriction as to user.

The registered proprietor holds a duplicate Certificate of
Title to the one held by the Land Titles Office.
Thank you!