Established in 2006, the Land Title and Registration Department (LTR) of Bermuda maintains official land title records across the island. The department provides legal certainty for property transactions, ensures secure property ownership, and safeguards the integrity of The Government of Bermuda's land registry system.

Since 2020, the Land Title and Registration Department has encountered mounting challenges from voluntary registrations, increased property sales, and the lingering impact of COVID-19. Now, it is facing a mounting backlog of 800 first-registration cases.

The Hon. Walter Roban JP, MP, Deputy Premier, and Minister of Home Affairs, highlighted the severity of the issue:

Our current resources have proven insufficient to address this increased volume of work … This backlog impacts not only our Department but also other critical services. It delays the flow of land tax information to the Office of the Tax Commissioner, affects realtors, the Land Valuation Department, mortgage banks, and has broader implications for our economy.

With insufficient resources to manage the increased workload, the Department evaluated several options: offering overtime, hiring additional staff at an estimated cost of $470,000, outsourcing to overseas vendors, utilizing trainees, and engaging retired legal professionals. Each option presented significant drawbacks, including high costs, indemnity risks, and resource constraints.

After a comprehensive review, the LTR discovered a more economical solution through FluentData, a Google Cloud Partner specializing in data analytics and AI automation. Their Intelligent Document Processing solution, DocDash, emerged as the most sustainable and cost-effective approach. The LTR team found that DocDash could rapidly extract information from deeds, dramatically reduce processing time, and free human officers to focus on more complex tasks.

The Hon. Walter H. Roban JP, MP, detailed the partnership:

We are proceeding with a partnership with FluentData as our AI vendor. After successful testing, the AI system demonstrated that it could extract the required information from deeds in seconds—a task that would otherwise take human officers several hours. This technology will streamline document processing, reduce caseworker workload, and integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.

The Department has developed a comprehensive implementation plan to address the backlog efficiently. The initial phase, which was already completed, involved scanning and organizing all 800 case files that had been returned to the Department's custody. The LTR has also approved a subscription-based Google AI service to process these digitized documents.

FluentData's solution is expected to complete the data extraction process within twelve weeks or less. The extracted information will seamlessly integrate into Landfolio, the Department's existing registry system. To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, LTR staff will conduct thorough verification of all extracted data before its incorporation into official records.

The LTR has structured the ongoing maintenance through a consumption-based subscription model, ensuring efficiency and cost-effectiveness in system updates.

The Hon. Walter H. Roban JP, MP, stated:

"The initial cost for AI implementation is expected to be approximately fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), with minimal ongoing expenses."

Integrating AI and machine learning technologies significantly advances Bermuda's land registration system. The solution promises to enhance accuracy, strengthen security measures, and improve operational efficiency while minimizing government indemnity risks and elevating service delivery standards.

The LTR AI solution is scheduled for deployment by December 20th, 2024, and full implementation is expected to conclude by the end of January 2025.