Dear Editor,
Last week, the Privy Council, which is the highest court in The Bahamas, handed down a ruling awarding the tract of land called Sir Lynden Pindling Estates to Arawak Homes. Reportedly, Arawak Homes and Dennis Dean were involved in a 12-year legal battle to be recognized as the owner to the property.
In order to purchase land in The Bahamas, several things normally have to happen.
The buyer normally hires a real estate agent. The real estate agent would then ask for a down-payment, which is a percentage of the property value, so that he can take the property off the market. The real estate agent would hold this money in escrow for a specified time until the buyer secures financing.
In many instances, the buyer would use a bank to secure financing. Once the buyer qualifies for financing that does not necessarily mean that the bank will loan them the money. Firstly, the bank hires a lawyer to execute a property title search. Only when the bank is satisfied that the title is free and clear, will they proceed and loan the money.
Once the loan is given, the property is registered with the Registrar General's Office, a government agency.
To sum up what I have said, the buyer has dealings with a real estate agent, a bank, a lawyer and the registrar, all licensed with the authority to execute certain phases of the land purchasing process.
The Privy Council ruling says that the land that was purchased by these landowners wasn't purchased at all because Dean, unbeknownst to him, was not the lawful owner. In essence, all those land owners who went through the proper legal process of buying land, could now have to do it all over again. They may get the chance of paying for the same property twice.
I am familiar with an affected land owner and they are at odds because they have retired; their mortgage is free and clear, and they are collecting a pension. And now they have to seek another arrangement to secure a property that they thought was theirs. You can't count the tears that flowed when this person shared their story with me.
After 47 years of majority rule, with three prime ministers who were lawyers, one would think that consumers would get some protection in the law. The protection of property should be a fundamental right in our democracy, but we have many hurdles to cross.
This dispute falls at the feet of all of our prime ministers, because land and surveys fall under their direction. There needs to be a land registry in The Bahamas that seeks to identify every plot of land in the country. Otherwise, more Bahamians will find themselves paying for the same property twice and having a bitter pill to swallow.
- Dehavilland Moss

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