The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Minnis administration's recognition of the "urgent" need for land reform received "100 per cent support" yesterday from the head of the Bar Association's real estate committee.

Adrian White, head of the Bahamas Bar Association's real estate committee, told Tribune Business: "I think public consultation on as many levels as possible will be productive. It's a great sign that someone in the administration is looking to deal with this.

"I think everyone in the real estate industry will encourage everything to be done that would better the industry and status of land titles, not only from an economic and investment side but for each individual homeowner who looks at their property as their castle.

"I am 100 per cent behind what's been mentioned, and I would think that now that it has been announced there needs to be visible and immediate action. The easiest way to start is at the Registrar General's Department and the Supreme Court Registry."

Elsworth Johnson, minister of state for legal affairs, while addressing Parliament yesterday said the Minnis administration has decided to prepare a formal 'White Paper' and begin public consultation on land reform.

"For too long a host of problems have affected landholding and land titles in the Bahamas," he said. "These difficulties range form the poor state of the Cause List Books in the Supreme Court Registry, which make it extremely difficult for lawyers to give unqualified advice on title to land, and particularly, whether any prior unsatisfied monetary judgements against the owners either exist or are still attached to and encumber the land."

Other issues identified include problems in determining who owns - or claims to own - any unoccupied lot or parcel of land; the question of generational claims to land, particularly in the Family Islands; the issue of 'squatters rights'; and the status of the Quieting Titles Act and whether or not it should be repealed.

"The absence of certainty in land titles in too many cases, along with the often informal nature of land holdings in far too many of the traditional settlements of our Family Islands, affects not only the issue of land title but also directly attacks the possibility for land ownership to become an effective generator of wealth, whether in support of business loans or in the creation of certainty as to land ownership," Mr Johnson said. He added that title problems in Bozine Town and the Nassau Village/Sir Lynden Pindling Estates areas of New Providence were a reminder the need for reform of the entire system governing property law in the Bahamas.

Mr Johnson said the new Law Reform Commissioner will play a leading role in public consultations and the preparation of several existing draft Bills that might need to be reconsidered or re-adjusted to bring a full land registration system and other reforms into effect.

Mr Johnson highlighted the Law and Property Bill 2010, the Registered Land Bill 2010, and the Land Adjudication Bill 2010 prepared by the former Ingraham administration. These Bills have already been circulated to the Bar Association and will in due course be widely circulated for the purpose of public consultations along with any other Bills deemed necessary by the Law Reform Commission.