The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business 
Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

While agreeing that real estate conveyances take too long and that the Bahamas should move to a registered title system, a local attorney yesterday said this required a phased implementation.

And Andrew O’Brien, an attorney and partner witgh Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien, disagreed with assertions by the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chairman that attorneys had imposed a “stranglehold” over the title process and, by extension, land and real estate development in the Bahamas.

Mr O’Brien, a former chairman of the Bahamas Bar Association’s real estate committee, told Tribune Business that he believed a move towards establishing a registered title system/Land Registry would find plenty of support within the Bahamian legal fraternity.

Chester Cooper, the BCCEC chairman, while addressing the Exuma Business Outlook this week, said land development in the Bahamas was being impeded by an attorney-imposed “stranglehold”, noting that “it simply takes too bloody long” to convey real estate in the Bahamas, something that acted as an impediment to property development and economic growth.

Mr O’Brien, while agreeing that the process took too long, did not share the view that attorneys were at fault .

“I think it’s dramatic to say that attorneys are holding up the process; we just enforce the laws that are in place,” he said. “I agree with Mr Cooper that the process takes too long and we need to move to a registry ,which will reduce the cost of a transaction and increase the speed of transactions and reliability.”

Such a move, Mr O’Brien said, would require a significant investment from the Government.

“It will require major investment in cash and resources for the Government to implement the system,” he added. “It can be done and it should be done. As an attorney I think you would find most agreeing on creating more efficiencies in the system. It will lead to attorneys making less on real estate transactions, though there will be other things to do, so for our society and businesses it will be a worthwhile effort. The former attorney general general began the process which should be continued.”

Mr O’Brien went on to note that such a system needed to be phased in.

“You have to come up with a masterplan on how you’re going to implement it. It will probably have to be rolled out for just specific areas, maybe parts of New Providence, to begin with, so that any title from those areas will be registered, and that’s to make sure we develop a coherent process,” he added.

“If they change across the board one time it would probably have the reverse affect and overwhelm the people responsible, and not have the reliability we need. My understanding is it would have to be a phased-in process.

“We have to pass the laws to change our existing property laws, and there was an effort a few years ago, but the attorneys - including myself- were very concerned that it created serious issues. The laws need to be passed, the infrastructure needs to be set up. I think it will need to address small communities initially. I think you would find plenty of support in the legal community to advance registration.”