Property Professionals
Your Service Providers
Lawyer
At the start of your property journey, you’ll need to appoint a competent lawyerA competent real estate lawyer will help to make the process of buying or selling a property run smoothly because there are complex steps that an experienced attorney will help to navigate. Once a Sales Agreement has been produced, the buyer’s lawyer will conduct checks to ensure everything is in order. Once the terms of the Agreement are finalized between the seller’s and buyer’s attorneys, the Agreement is signed, and a deposit (usually 10% of the sale price) is paid to the seller’s attorney making the contract binding.
The buyer’s attorney will assist with carrying out further due diligence and reports on the property, which will point out issues such as breaches of restrictive covenants or boundary irregularities.
The seller’s lawyer is responsible for ensuring that steps such as the payment of all Government costs namely, transfer tax, stamp duty, and registration fees are taken so that the title can be transferred to the buyer upon their payment of the balance purchase price. who is experienced in Conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another or the granting of a mortgage. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts and completionconveyancing law. They will convey your instructions to all the associated agencies and professionals. If you are not in Jamaica, your lawyer will be able to assist you in acquiring a personal or estate TRNAnyone can apply for a TRN (Taxpayer Registration Number), including non-Jamaicans and non-residents. A TRN is needed for you to transact business with key institutions in Jamaica, e.g. Government Bodies and financial institutions. All Applicants (individuals and organisations) are required to register and receive a Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) by completing the relevant application form and submitting it to the TAJ (Tax Administration Jamaica). There’s an online option at https://www.jamaicatax.gov.jm/trn1/ Taxpayer Registration Number. Your lawyer will also put together or advise you on the completion of a Sales AgreementThis Agreement will outline the terms of the transaction, such as the description of the land, the purchase price, the timing for completion, whether the financing for the transaction will be cash or mortgage, whether the property is being purchased vacant or occupied, and other important details. The purpose of a sales agreement is to act as a legally binding contract between two parties involved in an exchange of money for goods, services, and/or property.. If there was a Will, your lawyer will guide you through the process of probatingIt is the attorney’s job to prepare and submit the application for a grant of probate. As soon as the assets are identified, the estate is valued and the Will is assessed as satisfying certain requirements, then the attorney will draft the necessary documents for filing. The documents will have to be signed by the executor and one of the witnesses to the Will. The attorney then files the documents at the Parish or Supreme Court depending on the value of the estate. At the end of the application process, a grant of probate is issued by the court. it. If there was no Will, you will use the Letter of AdministrationA Grant of Letters of Administration or Grant of Administration is a legal document that is issued by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica or the Resident Magistrate’s Court, where a person dies without making a Will. process. Crucial to your legal ownership of property is the TitleA Grant of Letters of Administration or Grant of Administration is a legal document that is issued by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica or the Resident Magistrate’s Court, where a person dies without making a Will..
The buyer’s attorney will assist with carrying out further due diligence and reports on the property, which will point out issues such as breaches of restrictive covenants or boundary irregularities.
The seller’s lawyer is responsible for ensuring that steps such as the payment of all Government costs namely, transfer tax, stamp duty, and registration fees are taken so that the title can be transferred to the buyer upon their payment of the balance purchase price. who is experienced in Conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another or the granting of a mortgage. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts and completionconveyancing law. They will convey your instructions to all the associated agencies and professionals. If you are not in Jamaica, your lawyer will be able to assist you in acquiring a personal or estate TRNAnyone can apply for a TRN (Taxpayer Registration Number), including non-Jamaicans and non-residents. A TRN is needed for you to transact business with key institutions in Jamaica, e.g. Government Bodies and financial institutions. All Applicants (individuals and organisations) are required to register and receive a Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN) by completing the relevant application form and submitting it to the TAJ (Tax Administration Jamaica). There’s an online option at https://www.jamaicatax.gov.jm/trn1/ Taxpayer Registration Number. Your lawyer will also put together or advise you on the completion of a Sales AgreementThis Agreement will outline the terms of the transaction, such as the description of the land, the purchase price, the timing for completion, whether the financing for the transaction will be cash or mortgage, whether the property is being purchased vacant or occupied, and other important details. The purpose of a sales agreement is to act as a legally binding contract between two parties involved in an exchange of money for goods, services, and/or property.. If there was a Will, your lawyer will guide you through the process of probatingIt is the attorney’s job to prepare and submit the application for a grant of probate. As soon as the assets are identified, the estate is valued and the Will is assessed as satisfying certain requirements, then the attorney will draft the necessary documents for filing. The documents will have to be signed by the executor and one of the witnesses to the Will. The attorney then files the documents at the Parish or Supreme Court depending on the value of the estate. At the end of the application process, a grant of probate is issued by the court. it. If there was no Will, you will use the Letter of AdministrationA Grant of Letters of Administration or Grant of Administration is a legal document that is issued by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica or the Resident Magistrate’s Court, where a person dies without making a Will. process. Crucial to your legal ownership of property is the TitleA Grant of Letters of Administration or Grant of Administration is a legal document that is issued by the Supreme Court of Judicature of Jamaica or the Resident Magistrate’s Court, where a person dies without making a Will..
Notary Public
Another legal professional that will play an important part in the process will be a Notary PublicWhen dealing with a lawyer or the Courts in Jamaica and you have documents to submit, they should be Notarised by a Notary Public. Notaries are primarily concerned with the authentication and certification of signatures, authority, and capacity relating to documents for use abroad. They may exercise the powers of a Commissioner for Oaths. An online search in your country of residence will show your local Notary Public association. UK Notary Publics Association. US Notary Association. Canada Notary Public Association..
Land Surveyor
Your house and land may represent your largest assets. If you are contemplating purchasing property, you should know as much as possible about the piece of land you are going to invest in. For your peace of mind, you need a Commissioned Land SurveyorYou should engage the services of a surveyor if you’re planning to engage in any transaction concerning land, such as developing or subdividing land, preparing maps for feasibility studies, disputes over land boundaries, registering rights of way, and other easements. You’ll also require a surveyor when registering a lease of land, the layout of construction projects, roads, and highways, and relocation of a boundary. to define the legal boundaries and verify that the survey pegs are in place. If you are considering developing a section of your property, it is prudent to determine the exact boundaries before you begin. Your Land Surveyor will also assist you if your property is subject to any Restrictive CovenantsRestrictive Covenants may be placed on the title of a property by the owner of a particular property for the benefit of another or they may be placed there as a condition of approval when one applies to the Local Authority for the subdivision of land. The main breaches that Land Surveyors encounter are those that occur as a result of buildings too close to a registered boundary, improper land use where commercial activity is taking place in residential areas, and simple breaches, such as gates opening outwards when they should open inward. that need to be amended.
Realtor
Acquiring or disposing of a property is a good reason to engage the services of a RealtorA person who acts as an agent for the sale and purchase of buildings and land, . To increase your chances of a sale, you should look to engage an agent belonging to an agency with worldwide exposure and who uses the MLSA multiple listing service (MLS) is a database established by cooperating real estate brokers to provide data about properties for sale. An MLS allows brokers to see one another’s listings of properties for sale with the goal of connecting homebuyers to sellers. (multiple listing service). The listing agent will usually charge a commission of 5% and if the property is sold by another agent on the MLS system, the commission is split 50:50 between the two of them.
Architect
An architect will assist you if you’re drawing up plans for a new, or modified building, or if you’re in the process of modifying a restrictive covenant, in which case they will produce an “As built”Also known as record drawings and red-line drawings, as-built drawings are documents that allow a ‘compare and contrast’ between the designed versus final specifications and provide a detailed blueprint of the building and the land around it as it is today. drawing to represent what is currently built on the land. This will form part of the package that will be submitted to the local Parish Council and the courts.
Valuation Surveyor
All lands in Jamaica are valued for the assessment of the Property Tax. Under the Land Valuation Act, new valuations should be conducted every five years. Land valuations are conducted by surveyors from the National Land Agency and the private sector. Their work relates to information relating to parcels of land; updates to the Valuation RollThe Valuation Roll is a record of data relating to all parcels of land in Jamaica, maintained primarily to support the property tax system. It contains data on parcels covered by registered titles and those that are unregistered. such as change of ownership, change of postal address, new parcels created from sub-divisions, and the Certification of Value for properties, which are being sub-divided.