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TITLING PROCESS
Prepared for presentation to Jamaica Mortgage Bank Housing
Development seminar on Thursday December 2, 2004—presented By
Alfred McFerson – Registrar of Titles NLA
The National Land Agency (NLA)/ Office
of Titles
How to prevent Title Applications
from being rejected and the Fast Track Process
Sub-Headings The
Certificate of Title
Subdivision Approval
The Deposited Plan
The Application for Splinter Titles - Section 77 of the
Registration of Titles Act (RTA)
The Fast Track Process
Guidelines to assist in preventing the rejection of Title
applications
The Certificate of Title
The land must be described and identified by survey diagram in a
Certificate of Title under the Registration of Titles Act.
A Commissioned Land Surveyor must effect a boundary survey to
ensure that the boundaries of the land on the ground correspond
with the boundaries on the Title.
The lots must not include unregistered land or encroachments.
Subdivision Approval
The lots and road alignment of the subdivision/ development must
be done in full compliance with the approval of the Local
Planning Authority/ Parish Council.
Any deviations from the approved subdivision plan must be
approved by resolution from the Authority before the Director of
Surveys pre-checks the plan for subdivision.
The developer must examine the conditions of approval by the
Authority to ensure that he/ she is in full compliance prior to
lodging a plan for deposit at the Office of Titles.
Subdivision Approval
A statutory declaration by the relevant official confirming the
alignment and laying out of any lots and roads where the
conditions of approval require such confirmation.
The Deposited Plan
The Surveyor prepares a subdivision plan showing the lots and
roadways as well as marks on the ground of all lots and roadways
and the alignment of the roadways in keeping with the approved
subdivision plan.
The Surveyor presents the plan to the Director of Surveys to be
certified in accordance with the Land Surveyors Act.
The Director of Surveys may then confirm that that the plan is
accurate and in compliance with the Land Surveyors Act.
The Deposited Plan
However the certification of the Director of Surveys does not
absolutely confirm compliance with the approved subdivision
plan.
The Deposited Plan
Documents to be lodged
The pre-checked plan (certification by the Director of Surveys)
Statutory Declaration by the Surveyor verifying the plan’s
accuracy and that the lots and roadways have been marked out in
keeping with the Land Surveyors Act.
A certified copy of the approved subdivision plan.
A certified copy of the resolution by the Parish Council and
approval by the relevant Minister
The Deposited Plan
Documents to be lodged
Statutory declaration of the relevant officer of the Authority
or the Authority itself, under its seal, confirming the
alignment of the roadways and the laying out of the lots on the
ground in accordance with the approved subdivision plan.
The Deposited Plan
Turnaround Time
Approximately three weeks.
Application for Splinter Titles
(Section 77 of the RTA)
Section 77 applications are those in which the splinter
(subdivision) titles will be issued in the name of the
registered proprietor (also being the registered proprietor of
the parent title) who for all practical purposes is the
developer eg. The Minister of Housing
Application for Splinter Titles
(Section 77 of the RTA)
The appropriate form for an application to surrender under
section 77 is available on the NLA website.
The application should be kept as simple as possible to reduce
the probability of error.
The Customer Service Manager and representatives are available
to assist with any areas of doubt or uncertainty.
Application for Splinter Titles
(section 77 of the RTA)
Documents to be lodged
The Section 77 application to surrender
The Certificate of Title (parent title)
Manager’s Cheque for the fees assessed based on the value of
each lot and also including the roadways
Certificate from the Parish Council confirming the satisfactory
completion of any road works (where the satisfactory completion
of the works are a prerequisite to the issue of titles)
Application for Splinter Titles
(section 77 of the RTA)
Documents to be lodged
Title will NOT be issued unless the properly sealed
Parish Council Certificate is presented.
Application for Splinter Titles
(section 77 of the RTA)
It should be noted that the
applications to surrender for Splinter Titles with respect to
Part of Land Transfers and Strata Titles are subject to certain
variations, even though the substantive content of all
applications to surrender is similar
The imposition of Restrictive Covenants by the Developer/
Applicant in an Application to Surrender has certain
distinguishing features which will require a certain format
Application for Splinter Titles
(section 77 of the RTA)
Turnaround Time
Approximately two weeks, depending on the size of the
development. Larger developments may take three weeks.
The Fast Track Process
The National Land Agency has a business service called
Simultaneous Lodgement.
The service facilitates the simultaneous lodgement of all the
documents required for applications for 10 or more splinter
titles
It allows documents including the survey plan, the surveyor’s
declaration and the Section 77 Surrender Application to be
processed at the same time.
The service is optional.
The Fast Track Process
Date of service availability
The service was operated as a pilot in 2003 and became available
on July 19, 2004
The Fast Track Process/ Simultaneous Lodgement
Cost of Service
The cost for the service is $15,000.00 per lot in addition to
all other usual fees
The Fast Track Process
Access to the Service
An appointment should be made with the Customer Service Manager.
The application will be assessed to determine whether it is
suitable for simultaneous lodgement
The Fast Track Process Turnaround Time
Approximately 40 working days
Guidelines to assist in preventing the rejection of Title
Surrender applications
Ensure that the Surrender applications are carefully completed
Ensure that the resolutions of the Parish Council are strictly
complied with
Ensure that the parent title allows for subdivision – some
titles have covenants which stipulate that the land shall not be
subdivided
Guidelines to assist in preventing the rejection of Title
Surrender applications
Where such covenants not to subdivide land allow for
modification by the Parish Council, then approval must be
obtained from the Parish Council prior to applying for splinter
titles
However where the covenant does not contain words to provide for
modification by the Parish Council, then an application must be
made to the Supreme Court to modify the covenant
Guidelines to assist in preventing the
rejection of Title applications
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Where declarations are
required eg. Section 77 and Strata applications, the
declaration must be by way of Voluntary Declaration and
hence must be completed in keeping with the Voluntary
Declarations Act
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Care must be taken to
describe the applicants and to include their address, and
for individuals, their occupation
The consideration/ value for the lots and roadways must be
stated
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The number of splinter titles
required must be stated
Guidelines to assist in
preventing the rejection of Title applications
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The property must be properly
described and the Volume and Folio number quoted in the
application must be consistent with that on the parent title
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The Plan Examination Number
or Deposited Plan Number as the case may be must be stated
Guidelines to assist in
preventing the rejection of Title applications
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Applications by companies and
corporations must be under the seal
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The law under which the
company or corporation exists must be stated or it must be
stated that it exists under the Laws of Jamaica
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In such applications, where
directors swear to the application they must state that are
duly authorised by the company to do, in which case the
director must also co-sign the application in his capacity
as a director along with the execution by the company
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