Land Information NZ - the Government department which keeps a register of property ownership - is to close most of its offices to the public next year.
LINZ has processing centres or offices which the public can visit in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin but from the
middle of next year it will begin a gradual closure, and only keep open Hamilton and Christchurch.
LINZ was to close all its offices, but yesterday said two would remain open to provide "residual" services.
LINZ, which processes about 17,500 title and survey transactions a week, registers new titles, records changes of ownership or mortgages and provides copies of these records.
But this information is going online by next year, after LINZ decided last year to ditch paper transactions in favour of an electronic database.
LINZ processes information through its electronic Landonline system which is not available to the public. This system is used by lawyers, conveyancers, surveyors, territorial authorities and real estate agents.
Dave Chowdhury, LINZ's senior communications adviser in Wellington, said only property professionals could subscribe to Landonline.
Members of the public have been able to visit a LINZ office to inquire about property ownership, to view boundaries, investigate history and get other details, including whether any caveats are registered against a title. LINZ said the closure of public counters in most processing centres will get under way from July 1, 2008.
Chowdhury said property inquiries from the public after the closures would have to be faxed or posted to LINZ, Wellington, and there would be a nominal charge for the information. Title searches will cost $4. It currently costs $7 to view a property document at a LINZ office.
LINZ's website says people may also use LINZ's electronic ordering system - Skylight - which has an on-line ordering form.
Chowdhury said there would be an announcement soon about other ways the public could access the system.
Brendan Boyle, chief executive of LINZ, said: "Continuing to run both a paper and an electronic system is uneconomic and would be more costly for LINZ and our customers in the long run. Moving to a fully electronic system is the only way to realise the benefits of Landonline." "