By Owain Johnston-BarnesLegislation which would create a register of all land on the Island has been tabled, with Environment Minister Marc Bean promising easier property sales.Putting forward the Land Title Registration Bill 2011, Mr Bean said Government previously approved the implementation of Land Title Registration, with all of Government’s land holdings now entered into a register.The bill tabled on Friday would give the Land Register the authority to register privately held land.The Minster explained that Government had been looking at moving from a deed’s based property transaction system to a parcel-based land registration system since 1999.“This Government foresees significant benefits accruing to the public as a result of the implementation of a Land Title Registry,” Mr Bean said.“Such a system should provide for the guarantee of legal ownership of land and the simplification of conveyance transactions. Currently, property transactions can take months to complete, and at significant expense.“Once a parcel of land is registered, the register will become the definitive record of title and subsequent transactions can be carried out in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.”Property would have to be registered by the owner following a “triggering event,” such as the conveyance on sale or otherwise, the granting of a lease for more than five years or the creation of a new mortgage.The Ministry estimates that all private lands would be added to the register after around ten years.Mr Bean said the register will reportedly rely heavily on the Government’s Geospatial Information System, marking parcels of land on high-resolution aerial photographs.“Simply imagine Google Earth for Bermuda,” he said. “In order to ensure that we have the most current and most accurate mapping data, the Department of Land Surveys and Registration, of which the Land Title Registry is a part, will soon procure a new set of aerial photographs.“These photographs will be analysed and digitised to enable us to carefully identify each parcel of land.”Once in place, he said the land registry would help to protect the rights of property owners who historically may have been taken advantage of.“Many of our elder generation have experienced the injustices of their family land being adversely possessed by what some might describe as unscrupulous professionals, and even at times by their own family members,” he said.“Many of us can tell a tale of land being swindled from their family. Many of us still feel the pain of this theft. It is the intent of this bill to bring an end to this sorry practice.”