Dear Claudienne

I enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force on the 4th of May 1974 and served until the 31st of July 1988, when I voluntarily resigned after serving for 14 years, 2 months and 28 days. My rank at the time of resignation was detective corporal.

I attained the age of 60 years on the 18th of May 2016 and, in November 2016, I submitted the required documents in order for my pension benefits to be calculated and paid.

Since that time I have not been able to get any credible update regarding the status of my application. On a number of occasions I was told “we are trying to locate your file and will contact you”.

My most recent telephone call to the Pensions and Benefits Unit was in the 2nd week of October 2018, and at that time they still had not found my file.

It is my belief that having served my country, I should now be able to get my benefits.

I would appreciate your help to resolve this matter.

OO

Tell Claudienne contacted the staff officer at the Office of the Commissioner of Police and your file was found and sent to the Ministry of Security on Monday, November 20, 2018. Tell Claudienne then spoke to the head of corporate services for the police at the ministry who said that the accounts department was processing your file.

When next the column spoke with the corporate services head of the police at the ministry, she said that the audit of your statement earnings was returned to the Police Commissioners Office on January 18.

Tell Claudienne notes that your file has now been sent to the Pensions Unit of the Ministry of Finance for your pension to be processed.

We wish you all the best.

APPLICATION FOR LAND TITLE

Dear Claudienne

I applied to the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP) for the title of a piece of land I own in St Ann.

Geoland did the survey on the lot and the survey plan was sent to the National Land Agency (NLA) late May,2018 and to date (September 9, 2018) it has not been returned to Geoland.

I was told that the survey plan would have been returned to Geoland by June 2018, so could you assist me to find out what is causing the delay?

ES

Dear ES

The NLA told Tell Claudienne that the plan was rejected and sent to the surveyor in July 2018.

The reason the plan was rejected was for the surveyor to investigate whether the land is affected by another existing registered title.

Geoland then requested the commissioned land surveyor, whom they contracted to do the survey to address the matter. The surveyor then advised Geoland that in order to comply with the rejection, research would have to be done and the property would have to be revisited. The property was revisited by the surveyor on October 5, 2018 and the surveyor plan was then relodged at NLA.

In regard to your application for the title, an e-mail from Geoland to Tell Claudienne stated the following;

“With regards to the title application which is an adverse possession for a part of an existing Title that is registered by estimation, we can advise that the following steps are required to complete the title.

*Survey plan requires approval;

*The application will be sent for certification at LAMP office of the NLA ;

*After the application is certified it will be lodged at the Titles Office of the NLA;

*Once lodged at the Titles Office of the NLA, the application is reviewed by the referee of titles, who will either approve or reject the application. If rejected we will attempt to comply and re-lodge at the Titles Office of the NLA for approval;

*Once the application is approved, we will obtain a notice from the Titles Office of the NLA to advertise twice in the newspaper;

*After advertising, we have to wait six(6) weeks from the date of the first advertisement to pay Titles Office of the NLA final fees to proceed to prepare the Duplicate Certificate of Title;

* Printing of completed Duplicate Certificate of Title by the Title Office of the NLA.

Based on statutory and standard processing times, it takes an average of six to 12 months after lodgement for the completion of a Duplicate Certificate of Title.

Tell Claudienne notes that the Titles Office is now preparing the duplicate certificate of title for your lot.

We wish you all the best.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 876-936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.