In land registration, the aim of reducing the time and cost of public service processes, particularly in procedures linked to real rights, has been considered in all projects relating to the following aspects:

• Strengthening and training of staff
• Implementation of processes by means of operation manuals
• Provision of information systems and technological tools
• Integration of physical and legal data in one system
• Integration of registration and cadastral institutions

The position of each country in relation to the 183 world economies should be noted as regards the efficiency of the registration institution. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2013, differences can be seen in the number of days that property legalization takes, which can give an idea of the results of LAPs. A considerable change can be observed with the strengthening and decentralization of institutions and the reduction in the cost of these processes (payment of notary’s fees, levies such as national and local taxes, and registration and cadastral fees).

There was always a reduction in days, however experience has shown that costs tend to fall less rapidly since there is initially a period of readjustment to the new technologies.

In Central American countries, traditionally only a very small part of the territory had cadastral information, for example in Nicaragua it was estimated that until 2000 only 20 percent of the territory had cadastral information. For this reason, one of the central activities of LAPs has been updating information on parcels and on tenure rights by means of cadastral mapping and surveying in both urban and rural areas. Priority areas have therefore been selected in each programme phase, where surveying work and information collection are carried out. This work has been done by often international specialist companies or by institutions in charge of the cadastre. (For further information on this subject, see the fact sheet on cadastral mapping.)

Cadastral mapping has, in the majority of cases, been accompanied by a diagnosis and prediagnosis concerning land tenure involving a review of land register information, municipal cadastres, agrarian reform institutes and other institutions responsible for management of natural resources, protected areas, and risk areas or archaeological heritage areas.
This diagnosis has been prioritized in the sense that the quality of the land tenure diagnosis produced from the field information can limit impacts on RCT processes and hinder the generation of reliable ownership information. Similarly, the second type of diagnosis can have an adverse influence on the financial aspect of the project as errors and/or inaccuracies in these diagnoses can result in additional confirmation and/or updating costs. A diagnosis carried out efficiently, compared with the registration database, with the involvement of civil society and the municipal authority, has positive effects on tenure regularization processes, reducing legalization costs.

With routine cadastral mapping carried out through LAPs, LAIs have increased the number of registrations of parcels, their possessors or owners. The results are still poor, however. This is partly explained by popular ignorance about the need to carry out these transactions officially, but also because despite decentralization efforts, offices remain inaccessible. In parallel, it should be noted that the fear of paying taxes persists among the population, which is why transactions remain outside the official registration system.

With the provision of more efficient services, giving titles and increasing cadastral and registration bases, an increase in registered transactions is expected in the future. Furthermore, information campaigns should also increase the work of land registers and cadastres.

As LAPs coordinate cadastral information mapping work with various agencies (land registers, institutions involved in natural resource administration and heritage management, municipal authorities, etc.), these have resulted in the generation of a multipurpose information system. These systems have made it possible to provide geospatial and alphanumeric data useful for both users (individuals or companies) who wish to carry out property transactions or infrastructure projects, and agencies responsible for territorial planning, or management of natural resources, risk areas or cultural heritage.

In this respect, LAPs have contributed to the generation of geodesic information which facilitates or potentiates territory management at different levels. The main challenges here are firstly to produce interinstitutional agreements to ensure that these data formats are compatible with those produced by other public agencies, and secondly to guarantee regular processes for updating the information contained.

Updating cadastral and registration information obtained in the field has also helped to identify and classify tenure disputes which has made it possible to establish methods to resolve these. In the majority of countries in the region, preference has been given to dispute handling by an alternative method, in other words without resorting to legal procedures. The commonest alternative methods are mediation, conciliation and arbitration (for further information see the fact sheet on M&E of dispute handling).

The inclusion and promotion of alternative methods in LAPs has helped to resolve a large percentage of disputes far more rapidly and effectively. However, when alternative methods do not succeed in settling more serious disputes, justice must be sought through the courts. Although legal frameworks differ between countries in the region, land disputes are generally resolved via civil or penal suits, as there is no land code or land courts as there are in Mexico. As shown in the case of Nicaragua, the aim is the development of various models from the Judicial Authority to the Supreme Court of Justice