By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

IMPLEMENTATION of the land registry will begin after the conclusion of the Budget debate, Attorney General Ryan Pinder said yesterday.

Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Mr Pinder said the land registry will have a “fundamental change” to the cost and ease of doing property transactions in the Bahamas.

He said once a property has been verified and placed on the land registry the title will be deemed good and marketable.

“We've tabled this legislation, it sits in this place right now. And right after we finish this budget, right after we finish this budget, we will debate and we will pass these bills, and we are going to begin the implementation of the land registry in this country and conduct active land adjudication panels processing title to be registered on a newly established land registry. That's what we're going to do right after this budget is concluded,” said Mr Pinder.

He said once the property has been verified and placed on the registry, it will be deemed to be a good and marketable title. 

He said: “This is for the Bahamian people. And when your land is on the registry, your title is deemed to be good. A properly constituted land registry will be a fundamental change to the approach, to the costs and to the ease of doing business when it comes to property transactions in this country.”

Mr Pinder said there will now be three registrars, one for records, one for companies, one for intellectual property. The registrar of records will hold personal information and deeds, such as birth and marriage records, which all also be available digitally through the civil registry operational system (CROS), which is now live.

“CROS is a secure, user-friendly online portal that enables private citizens and professional firms to submit documents for official recording with the civil registry from anywhere, whether home, in your office or on the go, users can file documents online, online using credit or debit card or use escrow services to pay their services,” said Mr Pinder.

“The ability to submit documents for recording and payment online eliminates the need to visit the registrar of records department, making our services convenient and available 24/7. The first phase of the system rolled out includes affidavits of bachelorhood, birth correction, identity and spinsterhood, conveyances, mortgages and satisfaction of mortgages.”

He said once all the data has been uploaded and the stamp tax is paid users will receive a QR code that will authenticate the document electronically.

“You get a recorded proof with a QR code that will give you an authentication of that document and record it right away. These features allow for document verification via dedicated website. So you can go and scan the QR code, it will go to the website and give you assurances that is an authenticated document significantly reducing the risk of fraudulent documents being used in legitimate transactions,” said Mr Pinder.

“We are eliminating fraud throughout our system and becoming a digital country. CROS is a major step forward in enhancing convenience, accessibility and security and public record keeping. We launched a pilot this week, and we'll have a full-scale briefing next month”

Mr Pinder also said an artificial intelligence tool will be used to help verify and upload the 1.4m paper documents waiting to be uploaded into the Corporate Administrative Registry Services (CARS) platform.

This process should be completed by the end of September, he said. 

“We've developed an artificial intelligence tool that will help us with historical data verification, that will look at all of the historical digital data, all 1.4m records in the company platform, and they will update the data sheet in the platform to be completed end of September,” said Mr Pinder.

“We will have the company registry completely updated with all historical documents utilising a bespoke artificial intelligence tool that has been developed by our developers.”