Church Schools, Clinics and Playing Fields Will Be Titled, Says Minister, as He Unveils a Surveyor Fee Loan Fund

• Minister Robert Montague announced a revolving fund to pay surveyor fees for small landholders
• It targets people occupying two acres or less
• The ministry says it has trained church lawyers to help refer church parcels for titling
• Montague said church-owned schools, clinics and playing fields will eventually be titled

One of the most common reasons Jamaicans never get a title is the cost of the survey. In June 2026, during the Sectoral Debate, Minister Robert Montague announced a response: a revolving loan fund to cover surveyor fees for small landholders. The Gleaner carried the report from JIS News.

“Many of our small land occupants find it a little challenging sometimes to find the surveyor fees,” Montague said. The fund is aimed at people holding two acres or less. He explained how it would work: “Once the applicant applies through the Land Administration and Management Programme (LAMP), a National Land Agency (NLA) trained lawyer or recognised land management services company, they will qualify, and the funds will go directly to the surveyor and a caveat lodged against the title, so that taxpayers will recover the money.”

The minister also spoke about the churches. His ministry, he said, had been working with them on titling. “We have trained their lawyers and have listened to and helped to identify the issues as they refer the parcels to us,” he said, adding that church-owned lands, including schools, clinics and community playing fields, will eventually be titled. The National Land Agency will also widen its vendor’s mortgage window so that people buying government land can receive titles while still paying by instalments.

For churches this is significant. Many congregations sit on land acquired generations ago through gifts, informal agreements or old conveyances, and schools and clinics have often been built on sites with no clear registered title. Without that paperwork, a church can struggle to borrow, to defend its boundaries against encroachment, or to partner with government on development.

For families at home and in the diaspora holding small plots without titles, the surveyor fee fund removes one of the biggest upfront costs, though the loan is secured by a caveat on the title until it is repaid. For church boards and trustees, the message is to take the ministry up on its offer: get church lawyers trained, list every parcel, and start the process while government support is in place.

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