Month-long real estate limbo

Real estate transactions have been in limbo for about a month now as banks and lawyers are unable to complete land title queries because the Registrar General’s Department continues to disallow manual searches.

The department has been closed since the August 21 earthquake, when Registrar General’s line ministry, the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs decided to speed up its relocation from South Quay to the new ministry head office on Richmond Street. The department reopened September 7, with all services available – except manual searches of records.

Because of this, no commercial and personal property sales have been closed, no mortgages have been issued, and for the state, no stamp duties have been collected.

“It’s completely affected us” one real estate lawyer, who declined to be named, told the Newsday. Nothing can happen, he said, until the department reopens, but the industry does recognise where the challenge lies.

"No houses can be bought or sold. Imagine the frustration for homeowners and potential homeowners," a banking source added.

Bankers’ Association president Nigel Baptiste acknowledged the holdup. In an email to Newsday, he said the impact varied by bank but each was doing its best to minimise any risk to clients.

“There should be no loss per se, just a delay in the completion of transactions. Most of the clients that we have raised the issue with have been understanding to date. I am aware of a few cases where clients were concerned about losing their deposits because of failure to close within the stipulated period but in those cases, the vendors have been understanding of the reason for the failure to close and have granted those clients the extra time,” he said. BATT has been assured by the Attorney General and the Registrar General that all efforts are being made to re-open the Registry by the end of this month, he added.

Attorney General Faris Al Rawi did not immediately respond to Newsday’s request for comment.