Unused house lots could face repossession – Housing Minster

Housing Minister Collin Croal has said that the Government is moving to aggressively address house-lot owners who have failed to develop their properties, warning that some lots could be repossessed as authorities seek to ensure State-allocated land is put to use. While speaking during the Guyana Dialogue monthly podcast on Thursday evening, Croal said the Government is moving to address challenges, including cases where persons have been allocated house lots but have failed to commence construction. Croal noted that some beneficiaries have met the necessary criteria and acquired their house lots but have not taken steps to build on the properties. He reported that the Housing Ministry has established an Occupancy Department to address the issue of allocated house lots that remain undeveloped or neglected. The department has begun writing to persons who have been allocated house lots but have failed to commence construction. Croal explained that while some beneficiaries have met the necessary criteria and secured lots, they have not yet begun building their homes. In other cases, beneficiaries reportedly do not visit their allocated lots, resulting in the properties becoming overgrown with bush and grass. The Ministry said the neglect of these properties can create both security and public health hazards. “This is something we are going to be addressing in an aggressive way. While the local Government laws also allow, for example, those existing areas, you can have the area cleaned as a local authority and then invoice the owner for the cleaning. It allows that. So this is something we’re going to address because it has been part of the complaints when we went to the community outreaches. Everyone is complaining.”

Croal said the Ministry is also targeting persons who have acquired land but have not completed their payments. “We want to ensure occupancy. So we’re targeting those persons who have not built; we are targeting persons who have gotten land and have not completed their payments. And so there must be some bit of repossession that has to be done. Because we have to—we’re not in the business of wanting to take back from anyone. But, again, land is not infinite because you’ve spent money, we’ve spent money as a Government to put the infrastructure work in place.” On that note, Croal also reminded that local Government laws permit local authorities to clean overgrown or neglected house lots and subsequently invoice property owners for the cost of the cleaning. He said the measure forms part of the Government’s efforts to ensure that State-allocated land is properly utilised and to address complaints about neglected properties. Croal said persons who acquired land for the purpose of constructing their own homes are expected to develop the lots, noting that the Government will move forward with an aggressive approach to targeting those who fail to do so. The Ministry of housing has distributed more than 50,000 house lots since 2020 and is expected to commence regional clearing of housing backlogs in September 2026. “If you have your land on the premise that you got it for a house lot to be able to build your own property, then you should have this done. and so that is something we’re moving forward; we’ll have to target in an aggressive way.” in fact, with an investment of $5.924 billion in housing development across places such as Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) between 2020 and 2026, the Government is working to clear the housing backlog by 90 per cent by 2027. “So in a major way, from the new month in September, we will have some regional clearing of backlogs. and even on the outreaches that we’ve had recently, even in engagements, because we are, you know, we have had cabinet outreach every month going to a different region. so, for example, next week we will be in region 10 because that was scheduled since in march of this year. we have a schedule that takes us to the rest of this year.”