A mortgage is a legal instrument, and in Jamaica most legal instruments must be stamped. Stamp duty on mortgages is the charge for stamping the mortgage deed before it is registered on the title at the National Land Agency.
Until 2019 the duty was a percentage of the amount borrowed, which made large loans and refinancing noticeably more expensive. From 1 April 2019 that was replaced with a flat fee per document: J$5,000 for transactions of J$500,000 or more, and J$100 below that. The same flat approach covers refinancing a mortgage and registering its discharge when the loan is repaid.
The borrower normally pays, and the lender’s attorney usually arranges stamping as part of the mortgage closing costs. Legal fees, the NLA registration fee and GCT on fees are a much bigger part of the bill. Because the duty no longer scales with the loan, moving a mortgage to another lender for a better rate costs less in tax than it once did.
Many US states still charge a mortgage recording or intangible tax based on the loan amount; Jamaica’s charge is now fixed.
Related terms: Stamp Duty, Stamp Duty on Property Transfers, Mortgages, Registration Fee for Titles, Stamp Office, Closing Costs.
Accurate as at October 2026. Duties are set by law and can change.
