UNC: Nightmare looms for landowners under new bill

A new bill to register land ownership will create a nightmare for property owners and impede business in TT, Oropouche West MP Vidia Gayadeen-Gopeesingh warned the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

She said her research had found no proof of such bills existing anywhere else, criticising the Miscellaneous Provisions (Registrar General, Registration of Deeds, Conveyancing and Law of Property, Real Property, Stamp Duty and Registration of Title to Land) Bill 2020.

She said the bill has “serious anomalies” and will create “undue hardship” for landowners.

Gayadeen-Gopeesingh scoffed at the Attorney-General’s earlier praise of the Law Association for its thoughts on the bill, saying the association last June had actually urged the bill's immediately withdrawal so as to engage stakeholders.

She said a trio of top lawyers had said the bill was “a nightmare waiting to unfold.”

The MP said those legal luminaries said the bill would actually create more opportunities for fraud and corruption, in contrast with the Government’s claim it will curb corruption.

She said the association said the bill has severe and far-reaching effects, undermines citizens' constitutional rights to enjoyment of property, and encumbers parties’ freedom to contract with each other to buy and sell land.

Gayadeen-Gopeesingh said the bill would require a contract of sale to be registered and so make it more costly to buy property.

She said the protection of citizens’ rights is the Opposition’s priority.

“This bill mandates you to register a contract of sale. It is not optional or discretionary. This is moving away from settled jurisprudence.”

She said she had not found similar bills in other countries. “This is something new. This is unknown in the law of conveyancing.”

Saying pre-1970 deeds were not computerised, Gayadeen-Gopeesingh said to register such property under the bill would involve searching through deeds of torn yellow pages at the archives. She suggested other obstacles to creating a registry of deeds such as the reluctance of anyone to surrender their deed to be processed. She said the bill could undermine existing legal principles, saying, “What happens to the doctrine of constructive trusts? Has that been thrown out the window?”

She hit the bill as a hodgepodge of half-baked legislation.