NLA system outage slows property market, costing the economy millions

A major systems outage at the National Land Agency (NLA) since last Tuesday has slowed activity in Jamaica's property sector, disrupting land transactions, delaying court matters, preventing title searches and creating a growing economic cost that industry stakeholders say could run into millions of dollars if normal operations are not restored quickly.

In an advisory issued on November 2, the NLA confirmed that "some of our systems are currently experiencing an outage, affecting access to services online and at our offices." The agency said only limited assistance would be available while technical teams worked to restore services.

The disruption has effectively crippled one of the country's most critical business infrastructure systems, bringing sections of the real estate, legal, banking and surveying industries to a near standstill.

Attorneys involved in conveyancing transactions say the inability to access land records, title information and registration services has delayed property closings across the island.

Every real estate transaction requires searches and verifications through NLA systems before funds can be disbursed and ownership transferred. Without access to the relevant databases, many transactions have been forced into limbo.

Vice-president of the Realtors’ Association of Jamaica, Judy Benjamin, confirmed that the system outage at the NLA could prove costly for all professionals involved.

“The importance of the NLA to all land transactions has to be noted. We use it to search for properties, to transfer land, to find property owners, find titles…it affects everything to do with land transactions, even paying for certain fees or looking at caveats or other things surrounding land titles,” Benjamin told The Financial Gleaner.

“Outages like these happen every now and again, and we know that the NLA has been upgrading their platforms. But we prefer if there could be a more robust system in place with not as much downtime or whatever issues they have.”

One attorney-at-law who requested anonymity said the NLA system had been down since Tuesday, October 28. The lawyer said the outage had resulted in accused persons being unable to take up bail because the owners of properties used as collateral could not be verified by the NLA’s system.

“Transactions worth tens of millions of dollars have been delayed for days without any indication from the NLA when business will return to normal,” the lawyer said.

Commenting on the NLA outage, Opposition Spokesman on Land and Works, Lothan Cousins, expressed serious concern over the prolonged disruption of services at the NLA and called for an immediate explanation of the circumstances surrounding the outage, along with clear contingency arrangements for affected customers.

“Land administration is too important to the lives and livelihoods of Jamaicans for a disruption of this nature to continue without clear answers,” Cousins stated.

“People are trying to complete property purchases, secure mortgages, register titles and conduct business. They deserve to know what has gone wrong, what is being done to correct it and how their transactions will be facilitated in the meantime.”

Efforts by The Financial Gleaner to get further updates from the NLA were unsuccessful.

- Luke Douglas

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