Administrator-General’s Department Managing More Than $50 Billion in Real Estate

With the Administrator-General’s Department (AGD) managing more than $50 billion worth of real estate as at the end of March 2023, the Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck, is urging the entity to work with the beneficiaries to close these files.

“That is indeed a heavy burden, and my guidance to the incoming Administrator- General is to urge beneficiaries to settle their differences so that more estate files can be closed, in particular, to have most of these properties disposed of primarily to the beneficiaries,” Mr. Chuck said.

“There is always protracted and lingering dispute over what is called ‘dead lef’. In truth, $50 billion is being tied up because many beneficiaries cannot agree, and what is important is for the Administrator-General to get the beneficiaries using mediation, conciliation to agree as to how they will share up the property,” he added.

The Minister was making his contribution to the 2023/24 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 2.

He pointed out that once properties remain undistributed, they tend to deteriorate and a significant amount of their value is lost, as the resources are not readily available to maintain and improve them.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chuck commended recently retired Administrator-General and Chief Executive Officer, Lona Brown for 27 years of sterling and dedicated service to the entity.

He noted that under her leadership, the AGD transitioned to an Executive Agency, received ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System certification from the National Certification Body of Jamaica, and the entity was the recipient of several customer service awards.

“The Ministry of Justice is very proud of the achievements of the Administrator-General’s Department. Since Mrs. Brown assumed leadership in 1996, there has been steady and detectable improvement in the operations of this key Department of the Ministry,” Mr. Chuck said.

He said that prior to 1996, an average of 50 estate files were closed annually, and during Mrs. Brown tenure, the average number of files closed exceeded 200 per year, rising to over 500 per annum in the last five years.

“We have more files being closed than are being opened, which means a steady reduction of the backlog of cases,” Minister Chuck said.