Govt moving to repossess unoccupied house lots – CH&PA

…operations to commence soon

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will soon be commencing the repossession of unoccupied house lots that have been issued to persons but have remained vacant.
This is according to Chairman of the CH&PA Hamilton Green, who said that the repossession of the lands will commence immediately after the completion of an analysis of the situation.
The CH&PA has finalised the list of defaulters and has commenced sending out letters to landowners, informing them of Government’s

intention to repossess the house lots and encouraging them to occupy their land. It has been disclosed that thousands of persons are to be affected by this move given that only 60 per cent of all the land allocated has been occupied.
Green explained that the analysis is necessary as there are some several inconsistencies in the paperwork possessed by the Housing Authority in terms of lands that have been issued.
“The records at Housing seem to be very incomplete so in the analysis we will have persons go on the ground to see what is happening, because I found that what is in the office may not necessarily reflect what is on the ground,” he related.
Green went on to say that the Housing Authority would “not tolerate defaulters” within the housing sector, especially those who have been in possession of the Government issued lands for a number of years, but are yet to begin construction on them. “If you gave a house lot to an individual and it’s been there and he is not using it for a number of years without good reason…let somebody else get it,” he stated.
He further related that those persons who no longer wish to have these plots of land or build on them can return the land to the CH&PA and they would be reimbursed for it. “We already have some people who have come into us and said ‘look, we no longer want to build and we have returned their money…we have reimbursed them,” he stated. “Those who haven’t come into us will have to explain why they haven’t built because we don’t want … lands idle.”
Green revealed that those persons who were unable to begin construction owing to serious financial constraints would be given some amount of leniency, and consideration would be made for them. Reference was made to those persons who were in possession of a house lot, but continued squatting on Government reserves. “All they need to do is come in and talk to us and once we accept that they are genuine cases of hardships, we will make the appropriate considerations. This Administration is not out to punish anybody or dispossess poor people, but at the same time we need to have some sort of order and discipline in these areas,” he stated.
The Chairman posited that failure by landowners to occupy their house lots often times caused inconvenience to those persons that occupy theirs.
He explained that if several persons failed to occupy and maintain their lots in a street, the unoccupied land would provide a safe haven for vandals as well as a breeding place for insects and reptiles.
Earlier in March, CH&PA Director of Operations, Denise King-Tudor had announced that landowners would be given an opportunity to make some progress in building their homes, but if they failed to comply, then harsh measures must be taken. King-Tudor had stated that persons who were issued land years ago and failed to occupy them would have their allocations rescinded without hesitation.