Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal tabled a bill at Wednesday’s sitting of the National Assembly to pave the way for persons who purchased duplexes or condominiums from the state to be able to access titles for them.
The Condominium Bill is aimed at repealing the Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act and was drafted by the Ministry of Housing and Water along with the Attorney General’s Chambers. Darshan Ramdhani and Associates out of Grenada was contracted by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) to lead the initiative.
Last year, Attorney General Anil Nandlall had told Stabroek News that the Bill forms part of the government’s legislative agenda which is directed towards a revamp of many of the laws of the country that are archaic and outmoded, as well as to lay the foundation for the economic development anticipated to take place in the very near future.
In his 2021 budget speech, Croal had said that the former APNU+AFC administration’s largest housing project failed to accomplish the objective of facilitating homeownership because the former government did not amend the relevant laws, as he pointed to the Condominium Act.
The existing Condominium Act regulates the division of properties into parts that are to be owned individually and parts that are to be owned in common, makes provision for the use and management of such properties, and makes provision for the assignment of certain properties owned by the government, etc, to the tenants thereof, and for matters connected therewith.
It specifies that a “condominium” means any building divided into units, with each unit being attached to, or dependent to a substantial degree on the other units forming the building for support, shelter or easements for passage, or for provision of water, sewerage, drainage, gas, electricity, garbage, artificially heated or cooled air and other services (including telephone).
One of the major issues with the former’s government duplex project relates to the size of the properties on which the duplexes were built, which in some cases fall well below the legally established standard for an individual lot size. Once separated for administrative purposes, each lot is expected to measure a minimum of 40 ft x 80 ft but this is not the case.
The explanatory memorandum for the Condominium Bill of 2022 states that it “…seeks to make provision for the horizontal and vertical subdivision of land and buildings into units for individual ownership and to make provision for the use and management of condominiums and matters connected thereto.”
The Bill is divided into six parts, with 65 clauses. Part One addresses approval and registration of the condominium. Under this part, any person desirous of constructing condominiums or converting existing buildings into units must first submit, to the Minister of Housing and Water, a proposed declaration and description to be approved.
The Minister has the power to approve, deny or amend the declaration and description. A team of experts may be empanelled to conduct a technical review of the declaration and description, after which recommendations are submitted to the minister.
The bill also stipulates stringent timelines within which the minister must act. Within one month of receiving the submission of the documents, the minister shall write to the submitter acknowledging receipt and is required to give notice of his decision no later than three months after he acknowledges the receipt of documents.
“…and where the Minister does not, within that period, communicate his decision to the promoter of the condominium in writing, the proposed Declaration and proposed Description shall be deemed to have been approved by the Minister,” the bill states.
Without approval, construction of condominiums cannot commence nor can payments be made or accepted for such.
Once approval is given by the minister, the documents are to be registered and a Corporation is created.
These provisions, however, do not apply to existing condominiums.
The bill states that within six months of the enactment of the bill, the owners of existing condominiums are to prepare declarations for registration. These would not require ministerial approval. Once registration is completed, the owner of the condominium would be issued with a Transport in the case of unregistered land, or a Certificate of Title in the case of registered land.
Part Four of the bill speaks to the creation of the Corporation without share capital and whose members shall be the owners from time to time.
Section 28(3) mandates “it shall be the duty of the Corporation to effect compliance by the owners with this Act, and the Declaration and by-laws may specify duties of the Corporation in accordance with any regulations made under this Act.”
The Corporation is duty-bound to insure its liability and repair damage to the condominium property while unit owners are empowered to insure their respective units.
