PM requests lower land title rates for seniors

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has requested that senior citizens who are accessing their certificates of title for the first time, do so at a reduced rate.

Simpson Miller has asked the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, to explore the possibility of offering seniors a reduction in the cost associated with the process.

She made the request while delivering an address at the official launch of the expansion Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP II), at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, on May 15, where just over 200 people, most of whom were senior citizens, received titles and certificates of compliance.

The beneficiaries are from the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth, the original three parishes under the LAMP when it first began in 2010.

Simpson Miller said that she will be waiting for Portfolio Minister, Robert Pickersgill, to make an early submission to Cabinet to lower the rate for the elderly.

“We know that times are hard, and many of you find it difficult to pay even the reduced fees charged by LAMP for registering your land,” the Prime Minister said.

She noted however, that LAMP is still the best value for money available today for land registration services, and urged land owners to take advantage of it.

“In Jamaica it is a stunning fact that of the over 800,000 land parcels, only about 50 per cent have a registered title. This Government wants to see that each and every land owner has security of tenure. By that I mean a Government-guaranteed registered title,” said Simpson Miller.

LAMP II will extend the project beyond the initial three parishes to include five additional parishes of St James, Westmoreland, St Ann, Hanover and Trelawny.