By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Attorneys and realtors yesterday hailed the civil registry's online restoration for eliminating "a terrible handicap" that had created a "go slow" for title searches and real estate transactions.

Andrew O’Brien, the Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien law firm partner, told Tribune Business it was "certainly a blessing to have it back up and running" after an eight-month absence that had deprived the Bahamian real estate industry and associated professions of the ability to conduct rapid and relatively inexpensive searches for title deeds and conveyancing documents.

Speaking after Camille Gomez-Jones, the Registrar General, disclosed that the civil registry's online portal had re-opened from Tuesday last week, he explained that the restored access will "speed up and ease the process" following months of frustration that had required attorneys and others to book a time with the Department and physically search for the documents they needed.

"I would say it's going to be very helpful," Mr O'Brien said of the civil registry's restoration. "It will allow us to access deeds quickly where there may be gaps in what one party provides to another. I would say it will greatly help us speed up the process and ease the process compared to what we have been doing for the last ten months or so, having to make an appointment and rely on the knowledge of the clerks to do the searches.

"We are able to tailor our searches more specifically based on what information is available. Sometimes you have to refine the search terms or narrow them. It's easier to do it when you're in control. Overall, it will be a great help, and we're very relieved to see that it's back. It's certainly a blessing to have it back up and running, and we're already using it."

Mr O'Brien's views were echoed by Richard Lightbourn, former partner and now consultant at the McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes law firm, who told Tribune Business: "That's a huge relief. Every office was at a go slow because you couldn't check anything.

"You couldn't just go and stand in line; you had to get an appointment, and the first appointment they would give you is two Mondays' from now at, say, 2pm. You would go in, and they would give you an hour or whatever they give you. It's an imperative that it's up and running. The fact it hasn't been has been a huge problem for everybody. Normally people could just get the information.

"You had to go up there, had a limited time for your appointment. You couldn't have someone sit there for five hours. It's only a relatively short amount of time they would give you. They also tried to spread it out. They would say that you can't come tomorrow; you have to come two weeks' hence. You fitted in whatever you could in the time period they gave you. It's a relief it's up and running. I'm happy to hear that's the case."

His brother, Mike Lightbourn, president of Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty, said of the civil registry's online restoration: "That's wonderful news. It's been a terrible handicap. Information that you could normally get in a few moments you couldn't."

Once the civil registry went offline in September 2022, persons wishing to access title deeds and conveyances lodged with the Registry of Records had to visit the Registrar General’s Department physically by making an appointment several days in advance.

Once the appointed day arrived, then then only usually had a limited time - around half-an-hour - to conduct the relevant searches, which were performed by Registrar General staff. Alternative methods involved hiring third-party providers to conduct title searches and pull the relevant documents, such as Computitle and Benchmark, but this can prove costly depending on the amount of information required and is more expensive than using the online portal.

Ms Gomez-Jones last week apologised for what she branded as the “unexpected and inordinate delay” and disruption caused by the civil registry, known as CRIS, being taken offline for such an extended period. She said public access had to be “disabled” from last September to preserve the integrity of its data while the digital platform was redesigned.

“Some time in September, it came to our attention that it would become necessary for us to disable the public access to the Registrar General’s civil registry information system, which I refer as CRIS," Ms Gomez-Jones added. “So there was a disruption in that service and we were attempting to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible but, unfortunately, we were met with an unexpected, inordinate delay.

“In dealing with the issue it came to our attention that the platform needed to be redesigned in order to maintain the integrity of the data and, in that process, we connected with the Department of Transformation and Digitisation, who were the project managers on redesigning the platform so that we did maintain the integrity of the data. Unfortunately, in that exercise, it took a little longer than expected and the disruption ensued for a lot longer than we intended."

Mr O'Brien yesterday suggested there still remains "room for improvement" with the online registry when it comes to deeds and document searches. "I don't know if they've made any substantial changes," he told Tribune Business. "It looks like the same format they've had in the past. There's probably room for improvement in the programming.

"For example, if you do a search for Ltd, and the company has that spelled out, it might not read what you are looking for. Or if there is a point at the end of Ltd. You don't necessarily find that in more sophisticated, modern programs where, if you make a mistake, it still brings up the results for it."

Mr O'Brien said that, while the civil registry's online return "makes it easier", there still remains much work for attorneys to do in verifying title searches. "You don't necessarily have to wait for other attorneys to provide you with copies. You can go online directly and get them yourself," he added of the portal's benefits.

"You still rely on title search companies to provide blueprints for title, which may include deeds not germane to the specific title, so you have to go through and ascertain what is and what isn't. If there is something that you don't think is relevant, rather than wait for several days to get copies from someone who has the microfilm, including the registry, you can go online to see if it's an issue or not."

The online portal at the Registrar General’s Department has also proven especially useful as a last-minute check to ensure there are no competing ownership claims, or liens, placed on a subject property after the title search was completed.

The Registrar General's Department is a key hub vital to the Bahamian financial services industry and entire corporate sector, especially the legal, real estate and related professions when it comes to the recording of conveyances, as well as for company incorporations, annual returns and other filings.

It has, however, been viewed by many in the private sector as a consistent choke point or bottleneck for tasks as simple as reserving a company name due to functions that are still manual and paper-based. That, though, is about to change as the corporate or companies registry will be totally digital via a redesigned platform by this summer.