The Bottom, Saba
SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS--The responsibility for the land registers in the BES islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) was shifted from the islands’ administrations to the Cadastre (Land Registry) in the Netherlands and the public registers on January 1, 2021. This means that all cadastral tasks for the Caribbean Netherlands are now incorporated into a single organisation.
The Cadastre keeps a record of who has what rights in relation to all property – land and buildings – in the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands. Since 2011, the Cadastre in the Netherlands has been involved in digitising and automating the islands’ cadastres through digitising the public registers as well as setting up the cadastral registry.
Assigning responsibility for the islands’ cadastral functions to Cadastre Netherlands on January 1, 2021, allows further improvements and creates more possibilities for further modernisation.
“We want to continue developing the digitisation that we have established on the islands over the previous years. This will also lead to improved quality of available data. We will be taking a considerable number of steps towards this in the coming period,” states Frank Tierolff, chairman of the Cadastre’s board of management.
The BES Land Registry Act is to create a more uniform procedure and registry, which means clearer information for users such as property owners, notaries, real estate agents, banks and project developers.
By further professionalising cadastral functions in the Caribbean Netherlands there will be better transparency in the property market, which could provide an extra boost for the economies of Bonaire, Statia and Saba.
“Through the BES Land Registry Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations will ensure that cadastres in the Caribbean Netherlands will become part of Cadastre Netherlands on January 1, 2021. Being part of a larger organisation can result in more possibilities for modernisation and digitisation, which will mean providing better services to users such as owners, notaries, estate agents, banks and project developers,” Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren explains.
Cadastre Netherlands considers it important that the cadastral functions in Bonaire, Saba and Statia continue to operate in the way that these are used to. The phasing out of the current cadastral functions on the islands will not have any consequences for the services provided. The public is still able to go directly to the local Cadastre organisation, which oversees the implementation of cadastral operations and which will be integrated as a section of Cadastre Netherlands.
