The Land Registry feels a great responsibility to do everything possible to minimize the risk of abuse in accessing our registers. That is why we took extra measures last week. In order to be more certain that the person to whom an account for Kadaster-on-line is issued is also the person he or she is pretending to be. Such an account is intended for professional users. This tightened verification procedure for new accounts is now in place, minimizing abuse of the 'search by name' function.
It turned out to be possible to get a paid account for Kadaster-on-line by misusing a Chamber of Commerce number. This runs the risk of providing information for business purposes to people who should not have it. We cannot therefore rule out the possibility that the 'search by name' function may be abused by malicious persons.
Our registers are public because cadastral information must be accessible and understandable to everyone. That is stated in the law. So the Land Registry cannot and should not lock the data completely. But of course it is not the intention that this data is used for improper purposes.
For the longer term, the Land Registry and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations expect that the move to mandatory verification through e-recognition will minimize the risk of improper use. In addition, work is underway to limit the 'search by name' function to only professional groups for whom it is essential for their work.
The Land Registry also advocates looking into whether persons with a plausible threat who now fall between the cracks can still be temporarily protected in our registers. This would be in addition to the existing Surveillance and Protection System and after an independent and expert assessment.
