NASSAU, BAHAMAS- The state of land holdings in The Bahamas is “precarious, confused and far less than desirable,” Attorney General Ryan Pinder said on Monday as he outlined the aims of long-awaited land reform legislation during Senate debate.
The Land Adjudication Bill, 2025 and the Registered Land Bill, 2025 seek to modernize and streamline how land is recorded, owned, and transferred in The Bahamas. Together, the bills would introduce a government-backed land registry and a legal process for resolving disputes, bringing clarity, transparency, and commercial confidence to land ownership.
Pinder said the new framework will provide “a reliable and cost-effective way to secure property rights” and ensure that Bahamians can access the economic value of the land they own or occupy.
He noted that efforts to implement a registered land system in The Bahamas date back more than 60 years, starting with a 1960 White Paper. Although draft laws were prepared and community-specific efforts were made — including the 1968 Carmichael Village Land Title Act — no national system was ever implemented. In 2010, another set of bills was drafted but ultimately stalled.
Pinder noted that one of the most influential policy documents calling for change was the 2010 Land Use Policy and Administration Project (LUPAP) report, commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank. The report identified serious issues with the country’s land tenure system, including overlapping claims, unclear ownership, and high transaction costs. It found that about 15 percent of land parcels were in dispute — a figure that may be even higher, Pinder warned.
“There are too many cases where individuals, acting with the advice of an attorney, have paid monies but found themselves without the land they intended to acquire,” he said. “Accepting the long-held view that land is an important basis of wealth, we have many individuals and families whose wealth cannot be accessed.”
The Registered Land Bill proposes the creation of a central, government-maintained land register. Once a parcel is registered, all relevant information — ownership, leases, liens — will be recorded and continuously updated, eliminating the need for repeated back-title investigations with every land transaction. Title registered under the system would be guaranteed by the government.
The Land Adjudication Bill, meanwhile, outlines the legal process for resolving ownership and boundary issues before land is entered into the registry. The process will involve public notice, hearings, and legally binding decisions issued by adjudication panels.
“Purchasers can purchase and vendors can sell land knowing that no one else is waiting to lay claim,” Pinder said, noting that the new system will reduce legal disputes and build trust in land transactions.
Pinder said The Bahamas would not follow a voluntary registration model like Jamaica’s, which he described as slow and ineffective. Instead, the country will adopt a compulsory, systematic approach, beginning with areas where boundaries are clear and land disputes are minimal — such as Freeport and several subdivisions in New Providence.
In addition, the system will be fully digitized. The government plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) shortly for a digital platform that will manage land records, enable online title searches, and allow for the efficient electronic transfer of registered land.
“We believe, and the Jamaican experience reinforces this belief, that moving to registered land should be done in an online digital environment,” Pinder said. “My goal is to start land adjudications by Q1 2026.”
“We look forward to transforming the system of land and title in The Bahamas,” Pinder said. “
