Condominium Act, among slew of Bills for National Assembly

As government continues its stride towards strengthening the country’s legal framework, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Hon. Gail Teixeira, M.P, said several bills will soon be laid in the National Assembly.

In addition to the five bills to be read to the House on Monday, Minister Teixeira explained that the government has already begun extensive work on a number of other bills, one of which is the Condominium Act.

“We have almost finished finalising the Condominium Bill which is an important bill, to do with the condominiums that are going to be built [and] were built under the former government and people can’t get loans from the bank, because there is nothing in our laws that allow for that…so we had to come with a new law,” the minister said.

The current Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act caters for the regulation and division of properties into parts that are to be owned individually and parts that are to be owned in common, and to make provision for the use and management of such properties, and to make provision for the assignment of certain properties owned by the government.

According to Minister Teixeira, many condominium and townhouse owners because of the current state of the act, do not have access to important services to protect their property and restrict them from using financial avenues that should be accessible to them. The new bill referring to this act will address this issue.

“We had to come to with a new law to do with condominiums so that people who did buy into those condominiums or what they call townhouses that were built under the former government, so they can access banking, insurance, and stuff like that. [Even] in terms of investments that are waiting, [they] cannot do that because there is no legal framework for condominiums in Guyana,” the minister explained.

Further, the governance minister explained that Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall has also been actively engaged in preparing and refining bills to be brought to the National Assembly. One such bill is the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Bill 2021.

“Minister Nandlall called a meeting [on Tuesday] of the Narcotics Special Select Committee which is [looking at] increasing the amounts that you can have on you for personal use, to try to reduce the number of persons being sent to prison for having a very small quantity on them,” Minister Teixeira highlighted.

The minister noted that the Hire Purchase Amendment Bill, which is also on the table will seek to serve as a dynamic benefit in the lives of Guyanese.

“[The Hire Purchase Bill] has been a bill that’s really necessary. It has been desired for a long time…it will give [the public] some protection that right now they don’t have,” she highlighted.

Minister Teixeira said that the government will also be making rectifications to bills that were passed before, to further strengthen the amendments and legislation in a way that will benefit all Guyanese.