Jasmina Hadzic, Communications Assistant in the Bosnia and Herzegovina World Bank Office, offers this story.

Five years ago, the line outside Sarajevo's land registration office started forming before dawn. People stood in the dark hoping to get inside and take a number so they could file a request for information or paperwork – paperwork that could take months, even years to obtain.

Today, owners can register most properties at that same registration office in two to five days. Since a third of all property data is stored and handled here, this is a big improvement for a significant number of people. The system is transparent, reducing bribe-taking and giving. The renovated office is more welcoming, as are the clerks. And best of all, data is computerized.

A lot of work was needed to turn around the system and the people who work in it. Land registration records were chaotic in the aftermath of World War II and not reorganized afterwards. More records were lost in the war from 1992 to 1995 – a war which displaced people, sometimes permanently, so that legal records often did not match occupancy.

The same situation existed around the country. Lack of trained staff and deterioration of land and property records made it difficult to conduct basic real estate transactions, develop property or use it as collateral for a loan. Records held by cadastre offices often did not match those in land registry offices, and there was no clear procedure for reconciling the two.

The Land Registration Project, implemented in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska with World Bank support, aims to help citizens register real estate and exercise ownership rights efficiently and securely, so a transparent land market can develop.

Thanks to the project, 37 land registry offices have been renovated and equipped, improving conditions for staff and public. Customer service has improved around the country, and data, including information on mortgages and sales transactions, are available online. Requests for extracts can be processed in minutes. Backlogs have been eliminated in all offices save two.

Over 1.6 million property folios have been digitized to insure property records that are easily and quickly accessible to everyone. So have cadaster maps covering 1.9 million hectares, half a million more than was targeted.

The town of Gradacac is part of a pilot project to reconcile any discrepancies between the two sets of paperwork that exist in cadaster and land registration offices. Cadaster records are based on surveys taken in the 1980s while land registration records are based on written records from the Austro-Hungarian period. This can make clear ownership hard to establish. Harmonizing the two eliminates confusion.

Enes Iskric

Enes Iskric, Gradacac resident, applied for confirmation of the right of way behind his house. “Because of the dual registration system, my right of way was not clear. In order to harmonize the information in the cadaster and the land registration offices, I applied for registration of the deed in the land administration office. Unfortunately, the data in the cadaster and the land administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina are often outdated and not harmonized.”

Surveyors measured the path and drew a new map. Once it is done, records will be amended so that cadaster and land registry offices have harmonized information that reflects the reality on the ground.

The government has expressed interest in continued World Bank support to complete the harmonization of cadastre and land registry records across the country. An accurate cadastre survey will help municipalites to complete urban plans, regularize developments, implement a fair property tax, and manage their own property more efficiently.