Dear Editor,

The National Land Agency (NLA) wishes to respond to the letter to the editor titled ‘Get your act together, Titles Office!’ published in the Jamaica Observer on Monday, March 10, 2025.

An application to bring land under the operation of the Registration of Titles Act (referred to in the letter as “an application for land registration”) is one of the more complex applications that are processed by the Land Titles Division (Titles Office). It involves the adjudication of interests in unregistered land by referees of title who are appointed under the Registration of Titles Act for this purpose. If such an application is successful, it results in the issuance of a certificate of title to the applicant and/or his nominee for the unregistered land.

A certificate of title is deemed to be indefeasible under the Registration of Titles Act, meaning that its validity cannot be defeated except by an order of the court. Given the importance of these applications, there is an established multi-layered system of checks and balances that is applied even before the application is submitted to the referee of titles for his determination of the substantive issue of ownership.

The processing time of an application to bring land under the operation of the Registration of Titles Act may be extended due to requisitions issued by the NLA in relation to procedural aspects of the application or the survey diagram. Requisitions may also be raised by the referee of titles for additional documentary evidence of ownership. These requisitions will result in the application being rejected and resubmitted by the applicant upon complying with the requisition.

The NLA acknowledges that the complexity of the process necessitates regular updates and information for customers in order to mitigate concerns about delays. Customer service is of utmost importance to the NLA; consequently, we ensure that we engage our customers and stakeholders through the myriad focus groups and sensitisation sessions hosted annually to ensure that we uphold the tenets of service excellence throughout our operations.

The agency is also currently allocating human resources to reduce any processing delays that may occur and improve the overall efficiency of the process. Additionally, the NLA has recently implemented measures to enhance customer service, particularly in relation to prompt responses to customer inquiries.

The NLA welcomes the feedback of all our customers and stakeholders as we strive to ensure that our operations and services are held to the highest standards. The agency also commits to working to ensure that every citizen receives the highest level of service for land information and administration.

Nicole Hayles

Manager — marketing and public relations

National Land Agency

nicole.hayles@nla.gov.jm