Retiree waiting for deed 17 years after payment

RETIRED Port Authority worker Cyril Berkely says he has been waiting for a deed to a piece of land he paid off for in 2002, and despite repeated visits to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), has not got any closer to securing ownership of the property.

Berkely, 74, visited Newsday’s Port of Spain office yesterday, saying he and his wife Carol Berkely, now deceased, had been waiting on the deed to a property at Phase 2, Powder Magazine, Diego Martin, for 17 years after paying off their $72,800, but had only received reassurances from the HDC that his paperwork was being processed.

“I have visited the HDC’s Port of Spain office a total of 72 times over the past 17 years – each time with the same result. I have written to their chairman Brent Lyons also, and each time I get a document saying that my paperwork was forwarded to the Legal Department for the preparation of a deed and deed ownership.

“My wife died waiting for this deed.”

Berkely said one HDC official told him he had not got the deed yet because the property was built on land belonging to the Port of Spain City Corporation and the HDC has yet to receive the ownership to these lands and therefore could not legally prepare any deeds certifying ownership.