Eligible for HDC deed since 2004, 75-year-old woman wants answers

ON November 17, 2004, then-59-year-old Muriel Jackson finally paid off a loan on mortgage $85,000 to the National Housing Authority and received official documents confirming this.

But now, at 75, she is yet to receive a deed.

The mother of four and retired nurse lives at Petunia Lane, Pleasantville.

She moved to the US in 1979 where she worked as a nurse until retiring and returning to Trinidad and Tobago in 2011.

She said she has been getting “a runaround” from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) since then.

The document she received said, “In the matter of the loan on mortgage $85,000 granted to Hollister (her late husband) and Muriel Jackson on the security of their freehold lands situated at Petunia Lane, Pleasantville.

“I certify that the amount due has been paid in full to the National Housing Authority and the account is now closed. It is desired that you be good enough to arrange for the necessary release on the premises, please.”

Speaking with Newsday on Thursday, Jackson said, “Since 2011, I have been going up and down asking them for some sort of deed. Every time I go there, they keep telling me it has to go to the President (of TT) to sign…I have recorded all the times I’ve went back and the people I spoke with.”

Three of her children live abroad and one is still in TT.

She said she is worried not getting the deed in time may cause problems in the long run.

“If I pass away tomorrow, my children will have difficulties in accessing this. I really want to settle this before I pass away. My life is not in my hands and I don’t know when I will pass away.

“I’ve been going to them all the time. Then, they told me to go to the Ministry of State Lands. And I did. And still, nothing…”

She said the situation has been frustrating her.

Newsday contacted the HDC’s corporate communications department and was told they would “look into the situation and revert with feedback.”