Churches Sat Down With the Land Titling Minister. The Goal: Titles for Every Acre

• Minister Robert Montague met the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches
• The National Land Agency explained the titling process and adverse possession
• The Government says it wants titles for 100 per cent of lands
• Church leaders raised their own concerns in a question-and-answer session

Land titling minister Robert Montague met the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches in Kingston in November 2025 to discuss how churches can secure legal title to the land they occupy and how the law on adverse possession affects them.

The Jamaica Observer reported that officials from the National Land Agency (NLA) and the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport joined the meeting. The NLA walked church leaders through the steps for obtaining a title, the support services available and the legal framework for adverse possession, the process by which someone can gain ownership of land by occupying it over time. Church leaders then put their own questions to officials.

Montague set out the Government’s ambition clearly. “The Government’s aim is to get titles for 100 per cent of lands. That is why this partnership is critical,” he said.

He also spoke about what churches deserve. “Many of our churches have served their communities for generations, and they deserve a clear, affordable and accessible pathway to formal land ownership,” he said. The initiative is tied to a commitment by the prime minister as part of Jamaica’s wider land reform and titling strategy.

For churches, an untitled property is a risk. Without a title, a congregation can struggle to borrow, to build, to defend its land against competing claims or to use it for housing and community projects. Adverse possession cuts both ways, affecting churches that occupy land informally and churches whose land is occupied by others. For diaspora members who fund church building projects, and for returnees who join local congregations, the push for titles is a practical stewardship issue: the security of a church’s land is the foundation for everything built on it.

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