A SIGNIFICANT number of back-logged cases have been completed by the Land Registry since new Land Registrar Rosalie Robertson and her Deputy Wendella Austin took office a few weeks ago.
Robertson, in an interview with the Chronicle, said during the first few weeks of her appointment she sought to familiarise herself with the systems, staff and all other things that “would expedite the approval of conveyances.”While familiarising herself with the systems and processes at the Land Registry, she recognised that the amount of work to be done was “significant.”
“The workload is significant…probably more than I anticipated,” she told this publication. But the workload did not deter her and she is coping well with the cooperation of the staff at the Registry.
SATISFACTORY FEEDBACK
“Strategies have been developed for dealing with the workload and they are working out well. In fact, the feedback we have been receiving suggests that those who visit our office daily are usually satisfied by the service we provide.”
The attorney noted that her office has been able to “deal with longstanding matters on a case-by-case basis when persons visit the office. If we are not in a position to deal with them immediately, we give them a date to return and we generally keep the date.”
Over the years, there have been many complaints by lawyers and other persons visiting the office regarding the slothfulness in the processing of transactions there, but former Land Registrar Juliet Sattaur maintained that she was fulfilling her duties according to her mandate. She has since been the subject of an investigation with respect to the management of the Registry.
“We are dealing with the daily increases in the number of persons seeking matters that have been in the system for a lengthy period, while at the same time, we are trying to keep current matters current.”
RETURNING TO NORMALCY
The Registrar of Lands noted that the system is returning to one of normalcy where “titles would have been issued within two days and two weeks and no longer.”
“My settling in period is going well. We have made significant inroads at the Berbice Land Registry as well,” she said, noting that across the board the number of cases are “very significant.”
The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed that there is a backlog of more than 5,000 cases at the office of the Registrar of Lands but when probed, Robertson would only say “maybe in the thousands.”
RELOCATION
Asked of plans to relocate to the former New Building Society building at Avenue of the Republic, Robertson said efforts are being made to occupy the premises as soon as possible as they are anxious to provide better service to the public. However, there are some constraints as items belonging to the Deeds Registry are temporarily stored in the building.
“We have got to wait for the building to be cleared. We have been promised that it would be cleared in two weeks,” she said.
Robertson said she inspected the building and feels “that we would be able to accommodate the public and members of staff in a much more comfortable environment.” She believes it would be easily accessible to the public at large. “We look forward to delivering the best possible service that can be expected.”
She is hopeful that her office will be relocated as soon as possible in the interest of delivering the best professional service. Asked to provide an average number of persons who frequent the Registry daily, Robertson said, “many, very many.”
Robertson was sworn in at the end of August, just shy of two months after Sattaur was sent on leave pending an investigation.

By Ariana Gordon