The Survey and Land Registration Bureau is the governmental body in charge of land, aerial, and hydrographic survey services, and the registration of real estate properties in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Established in 1920 as the "Topo Directorate" – "Topo" believed to be short for Topography, the name remained official until the 2nd of April, 1967, when the directorate became the "Land Registration Directorate". On the 14th of October, 2002, HM King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Bahrain's Monarch, issued Royal Decree No. 39 for the year 2002, authorizing the reorganization of the directorate to become the "Land Registration Bureau". His Majesty's following Decree No. 34 for the year 2003 merged the Survey Directorate, formerly under the Ministry of Works and Housing, with the Land Registration Bureau to form the Survey and Land Registration Bureau (SLRB) on April 19, 2003.