History of the Lands Office

The Lands Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, but the land it administers has a longer record. The milestones below trace the bringing together of the land records of member organisations into a single Office and a single Register, and will be extended as the Office's programmes come into operation.

1. Before September 2026

   Land held and managed by member organisations

   Before the Office existed, each member organisation of the Network held and managed the land it occupied under its own arrangements. There was no common register, no common system of parcel numbers or boundary markers, and no single authority to which a boundary question could be put. Leases were granted by each organisation on its own terms.

2. 10 August 2026

   The transition period begins

   Member organisations began transferring their land records, leases and survey plans to the new Office. The records of the principal sites were transferred first. A common numbering system based on twelve districts was adopted, and survey teams began verifying the boundary markers on which the district boundaries would rest.

3. 24 August 2026

   Draft district boundaries circulated

   The draft boundaries of the twelve districts were circulated to member organisations for comment. Of the 742 boundary enquiries answered during the transition, most followed this circulation and concerned the position of a district boundary relative to a leased parcel.

4. 5 September 2026

   The transition period ends

   By the end of the transition period, 6,420 parcel records and 1,184 leases had been transferred, 1,905 of 2,318 boundary markers had been verified and the twelve district boundaries had been fixed. The six survey teams of the Office were formed from the surveyors of member organisations.

5. 6 September 2026

   Lands Office established

   The Lands Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the boundaries of the twelve districts, leases of Network land, the Land Register and surveys.

6. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Office launched lands.gov.vin, carrying press releases, the district boundaries, the classes and conditions of lease, guidance on the Land Register, the survey programme and the Office's statistical releases.

7. 6 September 2026

   Boundaries published, the Register opened and the first statistical release

   On the day of its establishment the Office published the boundaries of the twelve districts, opened the Land Register for searches and extracts, announced the boundary survey programme and the opening of lease applications, and published its first statistical release.

8. 14 September 2026

   Boundary survey programme begins

   Three survey teams enter the Central District to begin the programme that will visit every marker on every district boundary, reaching the Ridgeway District on 30 November and concluding on 18 December 2026.

9. 21 September 2026

   Lease applications open

   Applications for leases of Network land in all five classes are accepted from this date. The schedule of rents for each class and district is to be published in the Newsroom beforehand.

10. Forthcoming

    Completion of the programme, quarterly reporting and the schedule of fees

    The Office's first quarterly statistical report, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be published in October. Confirmation of the registered particulars of every transferred lease will be issued by 30 October, the boundary survey programme is to be completed by 18 December 2026, and a schedule of fees for extracts and surveys will be published before 1 September 2027.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Office's present responsibilities, see About the Lands Office; for its reporting on land, parcels and leases, see Statistics.