“The Iniquity of the Legal Provision”: A Priest Says Jamaica’s Adverse Possession Law Must Go

• A priest and columnist called for the adverse possession law to be recalled
• Private owners can lose land after 12 years; the State allows itself 60
• He said the law breeds tension between neighbours
• He urged the release of idle public and mined-out bauxite land for housing

Dr Raulston Nembhard, a priest, social commentator and author, used his Jamaica Observer column in August 2026 to call for the law of adverse possession to be recalled, arguing that it rewards illegal occupation and pits Jamaicans against one another.

Adverse possession allows someone who has openly and continuously occupied land to claim ownership after a set period. Nembhard pointed to what he sees as a double standard. “The iniquity of the legal provision is demonstrated in the fact that while the Government allows 60 years for adverse possession of Crown land, the ordinary person with his title for even a one-quarter acre can lose it in 12 years,” he wrote.

He described the provision as a colonial-era rule that no longer serves the country. “Adverse possession, as presently constituted, is not the way to go. As the term suggests, it sets up unnecessary social tension and animosity between people,” he argued, adding that “a registered title gives an individual a right to his/her land, which should not be infringed by any occupier, however well intentioned.”

Nembhard said he was sympathetic to Jamaicans left without housing by injustices dating back to Emancipation. But rather than allowing people to take private land, he urged the Government to distribute unused public land, especially reclaimed bauxite lands, and called on Minister Robert Montague to move faster on land titling.

The column lands in the middle of a debate in which churches have a particular interest. Many older denominations hold land that has been occupied for decades, and adverse possession is the rule that can turn that occupation into ownership. At the same time, churches preach care for the landless, which is why a priest arguing both for the rights of titled owners and for housing the poor carries weight.

For Jamaicans overseas who own land back home, the argument is a pointed reminder. Twelve years of absence and no visible use can be enough for someone else to claim a lot. Whether or not the law changes, keeping land fenced, visited, taxed and documented remains the best defence for families, churches and returning residents alike.

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