Stakeholders to be engaged on proposed amendments to Condominium Act

 – Minister Croal  
 – hopes to lay bill in National Assembly in four months

Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Collin Croal says the Attorney General’s Chambers is currently working on the draft amendment to the Condominium (Regulation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act.

Once that process is completed, the Ministry would be engaging the relevant stakeholders, including insurance companies, the banks and other lending agencies on the proposed amendments.

“I want to give it two months, we will have the first amendment, our draft for which we will circulate to the relevant stakeholders. And then we will have a stakeholders’ forum for their input,” he said, recently, on HJTV’s ‘Jumpstart’ programme.

Minister of Housing and Water, Hon. Collin Croal

The current 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.

The new amendments to the Act would pave the way for owners of duplexes to access titles to their land. More importantly, it would also allow commercial banks to accept those properties as collateral, insurance companies to issue policies to those homeowners, and allow those homeowners to access loans for expansion.

“In the case of the Ministry, what had happened when they constructed the duplexes at Perseverance, the owners could not get their transfer upon completion of payment simply because the Act doesn’t cater for that,” Minister Croal explained.

The Minister said as Guyana continues to develop, and with the advent of the oil and gas sector, there will be a demand for condominiums and duplexes. There will also be a growing interest by investors and developers to construct condominium schemes.

“Our current Act does not cater for that type of construction. We have more of the single ownership… We cannot accommodate a condominium scheme because the necessary legislation for those was not amended so, all of that will be catered for,” he explained.

Minister Croal anticipates that the entire process will be completed within four months after which, the Bill will be presented to the National Assembly for consideration. This initiative is one of many that the PPP/C Government would be rolling out this year as it advances its plans to revitalise the housing sector. This year, the housing sector received an $8.9 billion allocation for several initiatives that would make homeownership easier for citizens.

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