Housing and You…The Deeds Registry and selling your transported property

May 11, 2014 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

I recently had to sell a vehicle that ended up costing me big time. It was a classic example of how simple things like failing to file your tax returns can end up biting you where it really hurts.

Over the last decade or so, the focus on accountability, quality of services and increasing pressure to bring Guyana in line with the rest of the world have been spurring many changes. At the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the birth certificate department, the passport office…things have all been changing. Though some things like the lines have remained, the processing time for transactions has been reducing because of emphasis.
And so it was that I was selling this vehicle. The agreement of sale and application were taken to the GRA where the documents were lodged. I had to apply for my tax compliance to show that I was up-to-date. Two years returns were missing, the clerk said.
The girl that was doing the returns for me had not filed them. I never pay much attention to these little things. So I had to go back to my employer, beg the accountant to find my 2009-2010 information, and prepare the return all over again.
The bottom line was that there was four weeks of anxious running around with the buyer on my back. I was slapped with a penalty of up to $17,000. It was upsetting. I did not pay much attention.
We have been writing about the process of those titles and transports and what happens at the Lands Registry. This is the department that processes titles. The Deeds Registry is the department that would handle transports. Transports have basically been inherited by Guyana from the Dutch system. Titles, which give land owners the same absolute powers like the transport, are from the modern English system.
Because some of the lands converted to housing areas were transported, many homeowners now hold transports as their ownership. New housing schemes including Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo are transported ones. Places like La Parfaite Harmonie are titled lands.
Like the GRA situation I explained earlier, not paying attention to the details will cost you time and money.
This past week, as promised, I spoke to the folks down at the Deeds Registry. The Registrar, Azeena Baksh, explained that it takes up to three months to transfer a property using transport, providing all the paperwork is in.
The reason for raising this particular issue is pretty much obvious. It is a fact that with more homes being owned, it will become necessary for persons to avail themselves to the process involved. It takes time, money and following up.
Remember, homeowners who have been allocated lands by the Housing Ministry cannot sell until 10 years have passed. You will need permission to do so before from Housing Ministry. You can sell, but it will be illegal and without the transfer being made, at your own peril.
There is website that you can also log into for details: http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/guyana/registering-property/. But for the purpose of this week’s piece, we will attempt to summarise it.
According to the Registrar, the Deeds Registry has many functions, but a major one is the processing of conveyance.
One becomes the owner of a property through a number of ways including, of course, buying it. It also includes a gift from another family member or through a will.

Among the documents needed for the transport to be passed into a new name are the Vendor and Purchasers’ affidavits, the original transport and the signing of a form which gives the Registry permission to advertise the sale of the property in the National Gazette. This is mandated by law. These affidavits are pretty straightforward. It is the vesting ones (gifting a property to family member) that are a little more complex.
All documents for the transfer are required by law to be prepared by a lawyer, except for a will. The affidavits of the Vendor and Purchaser are fairly uncomplicated, with names and addresses included. If there is more than one person whose name is on the property, it will have to be included.
Once all the documents are in, the application is entered into a database and checks are made by senior officials of the registry to ensure the information, like description of the property, is correct.
With a minimum of 50 conveyance transactions daily, the Registry has been battling staff shortages, a problem that it is working on in a comprehensive project to fix.
A transfer can take up to three months, once the taxes are up to date and rates and taxes paid up.
During this time it will be published in the National Gazette, as required by law.
Baksh made it clear that the biggest delays come from persons who have not paid up their taxes and are therefore finding problems to receive their tax compliance.
Then there is the scenario of many persons using what are known as ‘touts’ to handle the transactions. These are small offices that conduct lawyer-type services. A real lawyer would undertake to sign-off on the transaction. However, the incidence of using the touts and later finding out that many of them have been abandoned, causing delays in the transactions, has been worrying for the authorities.
We will be addressing these problems in a separate article.
In the meantime, place ensure you visit the webpage I mentioned so that if you are selling, you can at least be informed.
Enjoy the week and don’t forget to drop those emails to [email protected] or call weekdays at 225-8491.

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