Land Registry Bill passed in St Kitts and Nevis – but opposition criticise ‘feet dragging’

The government of St Kitts and Nevis has passed the Land Registry Bill into law in the federal parliament, continuing what it describes as its “robust legislative reform agenda”.

The decision leads the way to establishing a dedicated and registry to cover all legal aspects related to land ownership within the federal system.

This includes land held by deeds, certificate of titles, timeshares, condominiums, and related matters, according to the government’s information service.

And while one government senator described the new law as “critical”, the opposition St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has blasted the Team Unity coalition for the time it has taken to take legislative steps.

21st century necessity

When approached by WIC News, a spokesman for the SKNLP said that the government has “adopted” the “visionary land registry reform” first proposed by their party.

“The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party deems it irresponsible for the sitting government of St. Kitts and Nevis to have dragged its feet for two and a half years on the passage of the Land Registry Bill, a critical piece of legislation to bring an end to the growing dysfunction at the Land Registry in St. Kitts and Nevis,” the spokesman said.

The nearly two decades that the Labour Party were in power saw “land, home and business ownership by ordinary working people became the order of the day”, which “led to the need for an efficient mechanism for land registration”, they added.

“The Labour government at that time received support from the European Union as part of a package of financial aid to devise a new framework and implement new technological solutions for the land registry.

"The final report from the relevant working group was completed in July of 2014, six months before the new government was installed. It has now taken two and a half long years for the first basic step – the passage of legislation which has been drafted since 2014 – to be taken to commence real improvements at the Land Registry.”

Vincent Byron, Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, stressed the importance to fhb project, but sought the emphasise the huge huge scale of this job.

[caption id="attachment_3589" align="aligncenter" width="501"] Attorney General Vincent Byron.[/caption]

“Clearly, Mr Speaker, this is an inescapable imperative of the 21st Century and of the age within which we exist,” he said.

“Needless to say, this will prove to be a massive undertaking and will demand a significant investment of financial and human resources. It will also require the investment of a lot of patience from the public, the lawyers and any other stakeholders once this initiative is undertaken.”

The opposition has called for “administrative changes [that] are seriously needed to stem the lethargy and dysfunction” in the registry system, while the Attorney General believes that the “passage of the bill is in keeping with the process of administrative reform being pursued by government.”

World Bank ranking

An efficient and streamlined land registry system could have an financial benefit to the federation, according to Senator Wendy Phipps.

The minister of state with the responsibility for health gave her unwavering support to the bill yesterday, believing it could see St Kitts and Nevis gain traction in the World Bank Doing Business Report.

The report is a study aimed to measure the costs to firms of business regulations in 185 countries.

“The creation of a land registry system also has the ability to improve the ranking of St Kitts and Nevis as it relates to the World Bank Doing Business reports,” she said.

She also described some of the benefits of the bill, such as saving time and money, providing a strong sense of certainty and simplicity, providing file preservation, preventing fraud, and making it easier for financial processing.

[caption id="attachment_3588" align="aligncenter" width="499"] Seantor Wendy Phipps.[/caption]

It is important for citizens, residents and international investors, to conduct business in “a manner that is efficient, simple and effective,” she added.

“It behooves us to move with alacrity in ensuring that St. Kitts and Nevis presents itself to the world as a favoured destination to live, to work and to do business.”

The St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party agree that the new law will boost the Doing Business Report rankings, helping to alleviate what they see as “a drought in foreign direct investment in the twin-island federation.”