Given that approximately 40 per cent of land in Jamaica is unregistered, the National Land Agency (NLA), through the Systematic Land Registration (SLR) process, is looking to reduce that number and extend property rights to more citizens.

Developed to assist individuals who have been in open, undisturbed, and undisputed possession of their land for 12 years or more, the SLR aims to scale up land registration in support of Government’s objective of increasing land tenure regularisation.

Shalise Porteous, senior director of the NLA’s Adjudication Services Division (ASD), which has mandate for the SLR, told JIS News that Jamaica has a relatively low rate of land registration, which is due to several factors.

These, she notes, include high surveyor costs and people not having documented proof of ownership, making it more difficult to get a certificate of title.

Porteous said that the issue of people living on family-owned land for generations is also a challenge.

“If a family member decides to register his portion of land, by virtue of the Local Improvements Act, once a portion of land forms part of a bigger portion, subdivision approval is required. A condition of approval from the municipal corporation is usually necessary to ensure that certain infrastructure, such as water, sewage, and electricity are in place,” she said.

The onus is on the landowner, who might not be able to afford the services, to ensure that these are in place.

Through the SLR, the NLA has been making strides in helping these people to meet the cost of securing legal tenure.

Government will advance the entire cost for the legal and surveying fees and applicants will be required to repay after the certificate of title is issued.

SLR is the methodical and orderly registration of parcels of land in a designated area, known as the systematic adjudication area.

For an area to be so designated, the ASD will, first, identify parishes with low rates of land registration and then “identify communities in those parishes where you have a high population density living on unregistered lands”, Porteous explained.

Based on the NLA’s Parcel Statistics Database, two parishes have been identified as having the lowest rate of land registration. These are St. Elizabeth and Portland, where registration rates are at 44.5 per cent and 42.4 per cent, respectively.

– JIS