Squatters get comfort

CERTIFICATES of Comfort were distributed to 175 squatters along with Statutory leases from the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) during a handing over ceremony on Tuesday at the Sangre Grande Civic Centre.

LSA chief executive officer Hazar Hosein said the certificates would guarantee protection from arbitrary eviction and while it is not a deed, it would give the recipient peace of mind that they were protected on the lot of land they occupy.

He said the recipients would have applied for regularisation in accordance with the law in that they had until October 27, 2020 to apply and had a structure on the land as of January 1, 1998. For those who did not meet these criteria, they could not be regularised under Act 25 of 1998-the State Land Regularisation of Tenure Act.

“You cannot go and squat now and hope to be regularised. You will be breaking the law,” Hosein warned. He said for those who had applied and have not yet received a COC should go to the LSA office and produce the relevant documents such as proof that they were on state land on January 1, 1998.

He said the plot of land allocated to each tenant was 5,000 square feet and not 10,000 as some thought. He said the LSA would have received Town & Country approval and the plot would have been surveyed and approved by the Director of Surveys. Each recipient would have received Statutory Leases. They would have to pay 25 per cent of the open market value of land and would have 30 years in which to pay off the lease.

“I will give an example. If the plot is valued for 200,000 dollars by the Valuation Department of the Ministry of Finance, you will pay $50,000 for that plot. That works out to $1,666.67 per year or $138.88 per month. Moreover, you are paying for the land interest free.”

Hosein said upon full payment of the land, recipients would then receive a Deed of Lease for 199 years. He said the money they paid will be used to develop other squatting sites.

“We need the cooperation of the occupants. You must observe the boundaries for the lots. In many instances occupants are encroaching unto neighbouring lots and we cannot move forward until this is resolved.” He said the certificates and Statutory Leases are not transferable except to a next of kin upon the recipient’s death.