Dear Members,

Representatives of the Sub-Committee of Conveyancing, Corporate and Commercial Attorneys of the Law Association met with the Honourable Attorney General Mr Faris Al Rawi, Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and the Registrar General on Monday 27 August, 2018 to discuss matters relating to the closure of the Registrar General’s offices in Port of Spain.

Following that meeting we wish to notify our members as follows:

1. The Port of Spain operations of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) are closed until further notice and all such services in Port of Spain have been suspended.

2. The Registrar General’s offices will be reopened in Port of Spain at a new location at the AGLA Building at Government Campus Plaza by the end of September.

3. The sub-offices of the RGD in Arima and San Fernando are open and fully functional offering most services (land registry services such as registration of deeds and certified copies, companies’ registry services, and civil registry services such as applications for birth and death certificates). Staff complement at the sub-offices has been enhanced to assist with the additional workflows due to the closure of the Port of Spain office. Applications for birth and death certificates can also be made at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (Mt Hope Hospital).

4. No manual investigations of title can be carried out at present. Persons are limited to using the Land Registry’s Online Property Information Management System (PIMS Online) to conduct searches. Computer terminals for conducting these electronic searches will not be provided at the sub-offices. The RGD does not guarantee that the electronic database of title is a complete and accurate record of its manual title records, and as such title to land cannot be certified at this time.

5. The Arima sub-office is in the process of being staffed to commence the handling of RPA registrations effective August 29th. This service will be done only at the Arima sub-office due to the time sensitivity of RPA registrations. Instruments lodged for registration will be immediately scanned and uploaded to the RPA Online System. The six-week backlog of Real Property Act (RPA) endorsements will be addressed over the next week. At this time RPA Online is updated as at Monday 20th August.

6. Upstampings will be done only on Fridays until the resumption of service at the RGD in Port of Spain. Payment for upstampings must be made at one of the sub-offices, Arima or San Fernando. Thereafter the receipt evidencing payment is to be lodged with the upstamping request at the AGLA Building on the ground floor. A dedicated desk will be manned for accepting the upstamping requests.

We will keep you informed as we receive updates from the office of the Attorney General.

ELENA ARAUJO
SECRETARY
Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT)