The Land Registration Act introduced a new system of land titling in Barbados, namely the registration system.
This system is initiated by the Lands and Surveys Department and the Land Adjudication Unit.
More About Registration:
After the declaration of a registration district, the Lands and Surveys Department is responsible for compiling all plans of lands located in the district. From these plans, the Department prepares a Demarcation Plan which is used by the Land Adjudication Unit to conduct title searches on each parcel of land.
These title searches determine the proprietor(s) of the parcel along with any rights and restrictions affecting the parcel. The Land Adjudication Unit is responsible for preparing a record with this information. After the compilation of this record, known as the Adjudication Record, notice must be published in the Official Gazette and the daily newspapers giving interested parties a specific time frame to inspect the Record. On the expiry of this Notice, the parcel is declared as registered and the file is forwarded to the Land Registry.
The Land Registry is required to prepare a Register, the basis of which is the Adjudication Record. The Land Registry is thereafter responsible for maintaining the Register by adding each future transaction to the Register on its receipt of a filed document. All future dealings which affect a declared parcel must be completed in accordance with the Land Registration Act and its Regulations. The Register will therefore contain the complete history of the transactions regarding a registered parcel from the date of its declaration.
Additionally, the Land Registry prepares Certificates which contain the current entries from the Register. These Certificates are issued to interested parties as evidence of their interest in the parcel. A Certificate of Title will be issued to a proprietor of the parcel whereas a Certificate of Charge will be issued to financial institutions/lenders.
Benefits of the Registered system of titling include:
- Government of Barbados is guaranteeing the title to all parcels of land declared within a Registration District. The Proprietor therefore has an absolute title which is subject only to charges and other encumbrances so declared.
- Ease of completing searches which consists of a simple Application to the Land Registry Department.
- The Proprietor no longer needs a large number of documents to prove ownership of land as he/she is issued with a Certificate which contains a reproduction of the valid entries in the Land Register, a copy of the official plan of the land and the Registry Map.
- Certificates can be easily replaced in a circumstance where they have been misplaced, lost, stolen or destroyed as compared to the current process of the restoration of title deeds which incurs advertising costs and legal fees.
- Legal owner of registered parcels can be easily identified. Once the parcel number is identified, the official Land Register, which is maintained by the Registrar of Titles, will provide an authoritative statement of the title as it stands at any given time, including the name of the legal owner.
- The Commissioners of Titles have the power to correct any defects in title during the Adjudication Process.
- The time taken for land transactions should be significantly decreased.
- Costs of land dealings should be significantly decreased. Legal fees payable in Barbados on a transfer of registered land are one-third less than those for unregistered parcels. The legal fees for mortgages under the registered system are two-thirds less than those under the common law system.
- The Commissioners of Titles have the power to declare title to persons who have acquired an interest by adverse possession. In the unregistered system of land titling, this power was limited to a lengthy and expensive application to the High Court of Barbados.
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Barbados Land Registry
Warrens Office Complex
Warrens
St. Michael BB12001
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