– delinking of commercial arm
The current state of the Deeds Registry signals a need for urgent reform, and serious consideration by the relevant authorities for the removal of its commercial arm to a state agency, according to attorney-at-law Leon Rockcliffe.
Rockcliffe, an experienced practitioner who is knowledgeable about the operations of the Registry, pointed to a number of issues in a recent letter to Stabroek News, which he said negatively affected the system.
Rockcliffe said the land titles administration needed serious examination, as the very basic land registers “upon the accuracy of which the nation relies for information” on land titles under the Roman-Dutch ‘transports’ system are in a state of real distress. “They present a marked and continuing deterioration in their condition attributable to clear supervisory negligence on the part of the registrars and senior staff of the conveyancing section of the registry over a decade or more,” he charged.
The attorney said he had raised his concerns with officials at the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which has oversight for the Deeds Registry, but to no avail. In fact, he said letters forwarded to the ministry in February this year went unanswered; no one even acknowledged receipt.
Stabroek News contacted the Registrar of Deeds, Carolyn Paul, who said she was not allowed to speak to the press in the absence of permission from the ministry. Paul did not receive permission and was unable to offer any comments, while calls placed to the ministry were not returned.
However, a source close the registry told this newspaper that Rockcliffe had “brilliantly highlighted” what was wrong at that division of the court. The source said issues of corruption had plagued the registry for years in addition to problems with the pace of the delivery of services as well as the state of its daily operations. According to the source, Rockcliffe essentially captured the issues which needed addressing and which had been ignored for some time.
President of the Guyana Bar Association Teni Housty, in an invited comment, told Stabroek News on Friday that Rockcliffe’s perseverance and determination to implement change was commendable. He said the specifics of Rockcliffe’s concerns raised a more fundamental concern within the legal system and in the country generally, and that was what were the incentives and motivation for action. Specifically, in the case of the registry, Housty questioned why no one was acting.
“Why does it take USAID funding to drive a process, however well intentioned, to modernize the Deeds Registry of Guyana? Why do we need IDB funding to motivate us to improve our various systems?
“We must appreciate that the assistance is welcome, and these do create opportunities for participation and contributing to the process. However, why are we not the drivers of our vehicles, the directors of our own paths?” Housty asked. He said that from time to time people would encounter the blockade of non-responsiveness and non-action, noting that the challenge which this country faced was the extent to which inaction was embedded in the mindset of those with the appropriate power.
“What we need and support is responsive and responsible actions from those with the power to act and influence the process. It is hoped that some action is taken by the appropriate powers to address some of the concerns raised by Mr Rockliffe,” he said.
Rockliffe, in his letter, said the registry proper could no longer tolerate and accommodate commercial transactions within its present physical borders along with the performance of its statutory obligations under the Deeds Registry Act. “The two must go their separate ways,” he contended, saying that here was a compelling argument for the Commercial Registry to be established in some other location and possibly under some other aegis like the Ministry of Trade, to meet the demands of modern-day commerce, “Where it may grow with staff technically trained in the law relating to the several spheres of its clearly commercial business.” The commercial business at present conducted at the Deeds Registry includes intellectual property such as trademarks and designs, patents and bills of sale along with the incorporation of companies and registration of business names, these last two being embraced by the one stop project.
He said other functions included the registration of contracts, notarial and other deeds and powers of attorney, among other things, and said that these were performed satisfactorily. But he said the land titles administration needed deep examination and very urgent repair. Rockcliffe said too that the system also required the maintenance of encumbrance registers for the recording of equally important material such as mortgages and leases and the faithful and accurate annotation of these transactions on the original land titles affected thereby. “These registers have not been maintained since 1982,” he stated, adding that the lawyers for the financial institutions whose mortgages and other business were premised on the accuracy of the land titles presented to them as collateral could not and “should not be happy to have this situation continue.”
Rockcliffe also mentioned parate execution saying that although there were other hindrances that had contributed to its absence for the past 20 years the registry needed to prepare for when they would resume. According to him, the registry is currently not ready to handle them. He also mentioned training for the staff at the registry saying there had been a marked deterioration in the academic and intellectual quality and general knowledge on the part of middle-level clerks there.
Further, he pointed to the absence of a qualified legal practitioner at any level of the registry and also the lack of accommodation for attorneys who may visit in relation to queries on their submitted material.
