Minister for Economy and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says there is a huge backlog of applications with the director of lands which have not been dealt with to-date.
He told Parliament last week that at times it took a lessee more than a year to get consent from the director of lands on a deal.
“There is a huge backlog of applications which have not been dealt with to date and we receive frequent complaints from members of the public on these delays on the department of lands, which is simply unacceptable,” he said.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the State Lands (Budget Amendment) Bill 2021, the State Lands Act would remove the requirement of obtaining the written consent of the director of lands for any mortgage, charge, pledge or caveat on a protected lease or what we call a registered lease, or for any such lease to be dealt with by any court of law or under the process of any court of law.
“This will ensure faster service delivery to lessees and third parties will no longer need to obtain the consent of the director of lands, to send their applications.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the State Lands Act 1945, Section 13 had stated that it was unlawful for a lessee under a protected lease to alienate or deal with the land compromised in the protected lease, whether by sale, transfer or sublease or in any other manner, without the written consent of the director of lands.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said a written consent from the director of lands was also required for any mortgage, charge or pledge on the protected lease, or for any protected lease to be dealt with by any court of law or under the process of any court of law, or for the Registrar of Titles to register any caveat affecting the protected lease.
