Mission to be Accomplished promises ISU leader, Carlos Simons

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 5, 2023 – Along with its mandate of creating safer, legal and accessible communities the Informal Settlement Unit (ISU) is now finding itself with the mammoth task of balancing the impact of a housing crisis, the pressing need for the return of captured Crown Land and the health and security dangers posed by illegal settlements.

Former Supreme Court Justice Carlos Simons KC, Head of the ISU spoke to the media in a press conference on Monday November 27 about the process of removal and regularizing.

Simons stressed that no one had been removed from Crown Land yet.

“The Crown Land Unit has not reclaimed any land so far on which there are occupied structures, only lands on which the structures are at foundation level with no roof. So no one has been displaced from Crown Lands so far.  And I say so far because the time will come when we have to address illegal occupation,” he said.

There have been removals on privately owned land and the ISU head went on to explain why residents should avoid squatting on Crown Land at all costs.

“You will never acquire a title to it and when the time comes it will be reclaimed for the Crown,” he said, “By law there are no squatter’s rights in relation to Crown Land in the Turks and Caicos Islands and for private land it would take 20 years of unmolested occupation and an application to the relevant department for a squatter to claim the spot.”

Simons explained that, while the government had the right to reclaim the Crown Land, and any structure built on it, the Informal Settlement Unit was not in the business of demolishing structures that were built inside the parameters of what the planning laws require, even though they were built without Planning Department permission.

He stressed that the ISU was examining ways to regularize individuals who found themselves in this situation and in this review, the ISU leader promised, any discovered  fraud would absolutely not be tolerated.

“Where it is clear that fraud has been committed, we will be referring those cases to the director of Public Prosecution for consideration for prosecution. We will not sit back and watch people be fleeced of their hard earned dollars.”

As for how to make sure the land they were getting was completely legal, Simons said “Go to the Land Registry or Survey Department or the Planning Department and tell them your story.. I’m about to pay $10,000 or $20,000 for this parcel of land, is this person entitled to sell it to me? You must make those inquiries.”

Admittedly, there has been slight friction between the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the ISU as they both seek to carry out their individual mandates.  The HRC wants the ISU to provide accommodation for displaced individuals but Simons explained there were specific rules on when that should be done.

“The occasion has not arisen for us to provide accommodation for anyone as yet–that alternative accommodation obligation is in the Crown Land Ordinance.  It applies to the removal of structures on Crown Land,” he reminded that no one had been removed from Crown land so far.

As for what the Turks and Caicos Islands Government is doing to prevent squatting and the painful process of reclamation of land, Mr. Simons was resolute about the remit of the Informal Settlements Unit, “We are not going to tolerate any more structures built without planning permission.”