‘Following the bizarre policy change, certified copies had to be applied for using a broken and inefficient online system, resulting in more than the usual amount of delay and frustration to collect the certified copies.’
By Neela Ramsundar
NOT long ago, I wrote about a bizarre policy change that took effect at the land registries in this country, where law clerks were no longer permitted to apply for certified copies at the same time that they were paying to register new deeds.
Certified copies are the official photocopies of original deeds when registered, are permanently kept by the State.
Following the bizarre policy change, certified copies had to be applied for using a broken and inefficient online system, resulting in more than the usual amount of delay and frustration to collect the certified copies.
Happily, I can report there has been a reversal of this policy decision (yay!). Unfortunately, the wait time to collect the certified copies is even more horrendous (two months or more). But now I have a new grievance on the matter of access to deeds, which I sincerely hope our new Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, will address with alacrity.
The PIMS online land registry (“PIMS”) being run by the Ministry of Legal Affairs has been taken offline. There has been no access to the same for about 2-3 weeks now. PIMS was a subscription-based service brought online in or around 2015, where following cash payments made at the Land Registry, you were permitted access to over 1.5 million digitised official documents at the Land Registry, including deeds for unregistered lands, bills of sales, judgments, lis pendens, deed polls and wills registered with the Land Registry.
PIMS was not a perfect system. It was slow to return your search results. Wait times of 15 to 30 minutes were becoming the norm for land deed searches. I’ve also had several infuriating incidents where PIMS deducted my monies from my account but didn’t give me access to the documents I requested and paid for. Further, despite sending a trouble report about those incidents, nothing came of it, not even an email confirming I sent in a trouble report.
But PIMS remained a handy system that allowed me to find documents quickly for my clients, particularly when they needed to find out what assets a debtor might have that they could go after to recover judgment debts owed to them.
Suddenly, without warning, the system was turned off. If you click on the link to the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs (AGLA) website (https://agla.gov.tt/home/online services/), you get a message saying “The page isn’t working. rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt didn’t send any data. ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE”.
No arrangements were made before switching the system off to return the funds to my credit in my account to me. Isn’t that theft? I no longer have access to the records of searches I made on PIMS which was valuable to me for the benefit of my clients.
I have been reliably informed that PIMS is intended to be replaced by a PBRS (Property Business Registration System) online search facility. This system, unsurprisingly, requires you to register or sign up to get access. As an attorney, though, I had to submit more information and documents on my identity than a normal person. I did so. I did not get an email confirming my registration, which was what I expected. I got nothing, save a popup saying my registration is pending approval. I don’t know why but I surmised within 24 hours I should have gotten access to PBRS.
It’s been over a week now. I’m waiting to regain access to the digital records so that I may continue to carry on the work of my clients. I’ve gotten no communication from AGLA and I still have no access to PBRS. It’s as if I never submitted my registration. Sigh.
Surely, this state of affairs is unacceptable. Someone is dropping the ball when it comes to ensuring there is efficient online access to official records at the Land Registry.
This issue falls at the doorstep of our newly installed attorney general, who bears ultimate responsibility for the matter.
Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer:The contents of this article are for general informative purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Why is PIMS Offline?
‘Following the bizarre policy change, certified copies had to be applied for using a broken and inefficient online system, resulting in more than the usual amount of delay and frustration to collect the certified copies.’
NOT long ago, I wrote about a bizarre policy change that took effect at the land registries in this country, where law clerks were no longer permitted to apply for certified copies at the same time that they were paying to register new deeds.
Certified copies are the official photocopies of original deeds when registered, are permanently kept by the State.
Following the bizarre policy change, certified copies had to be applied for using a broken and inefficient online system, resulting in more than the usual amount of delay and frustration to collect the certified copies.
Happily, I can report there has been a reversal of this policy decision (yay!). Unfortunately, the wait time to collect the certified copies is even more horrendous (two months or more). But now I have a new grievance on the matter of access to deeds, which I sincerely hope our new Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, will address with alacrity.
The PIMS online land registry (“PIMS”) being run by the Ministry of Legal Affairs has been taken offline. There has been no access to the same for about 2-3 weeks now. PIMS was a subscription-based service brought online in or around 2015, where following cash payments made at the Land Registry, you were permitted access to over 1.5 million digitised official documents at the Land Registry, including deeds for unregistered lands, bills of sales, judgments, lis pendens, deed polls and wills registered with the Land Registry.
PIMS was not a perfect system. It was slow to return your search results. Wait times of 15 to 30 minutes were becoming the norm for land deed searches. I’ve also had several infuriating incidents where PIMS deducted my monies from my account but didn’t give me access to the documents I requested and paid for. Further, despite sending a trouble report about those incidents, nothing came of it, not even an email confirming I sent in a trouble report.
But PIMS remained a handy system that allowed me to find documents quickly for my clients, particularly when they needed to find out what assets a debtor might have that they could go after to recover judgment debts owed to them.
Suddenly, without warning, the system was turned off. If you click on the link to the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs (AGLA) website (https://agla.gov.tt/home/online services/), you get a message saying “The page isn’t working. rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt didn’t send any data. ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE”.
No arrangements were made before switching the system off to return the funds to my credit in my account to me. Isn’t that theft? I no longer have access to the records of searches I made on PIMS which was valuable to me for the benefit of my clients.
I have been reliably informed that PIMS is intended to be replaced by a PBRS (Property Business Registration System) online search facility. This system, unsurprisingly, requires you to register or sign up to get access. As an attorney, though, I had to submit more information and documents on my identity than a normal person. I did so. I did not get an email confirming my registration, which was what I expected. I got nothing, save a popup saying my registration is pending approval. I don’t know why but I surmised within 24 hours I should have gotten access to PBRS.
It’s been over a week now. I’m waiting to regain access to the digital records so that I may continue to carry on the work of my clients. I’ve gotten no communication from AGLA and I still have no access to PBRS. It’s as if I never submitted my registration. Sigh.
Surely, this state of affairs is unacceptable. Someone is dropping the ball when it comes to ensuring there is efficient online access to official records at the Land Registry.
This issue falls at the doorstep of our newly installed attorney general, who bears ultimate responsibility for the matter.
Copyright © 2022 Neela Ramsundar, LL.B (HONS), L.E.C
Civil Litigation Attorney at Law & Certified Mediator.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for general informative purposes only and/or contain the opinions and/or thoughts of the writer only. It does not provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship with any reader. For legal advice on your specific situation, please contact an Attorney-at-Law of your choosing directly. Liability for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever allegedly incurred a consequence of relying on content in this article is thus hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.