Transport or Certificate of Title: what's the difference?

Ask the seller which document they hold, then have your attorney check it at the right registry before you pay anything. The answer decides where the search happens and what can go wrong.

The two title systems

Question	Transport	Certificate of Title
What is it?	The private ownership deed.	Registered title under a separate system.
Where is it held?	The Deeds Registry, run by the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority (DCRA) in Georgetown. Originals for land outside Demerara are kept at county branches where they exist.	The Land Registry, Lot 1 High and Commerce Streets, Georgetown.
How strong is it?	Full and absolute, subject to claims allowed by law, registered charges such as mortgages, and earlier registered interests and leases. Fraud can void it within 12 months of discovery.	Absolute and indefeasible (it can't be overturned), except for fraud, a boundary misdescription and matters on the register. Backed by an Assurance Fund.
How is it checked?	Anyone may inspect the registers and pay for copies, in front of registry staff. In practice an attorney does it.	An Official Title Search: a form, one copy of ID and a small cash fee (published as $10 a parcel, which looks out of date). It takes up to 24 hours.

You don't choose between them. Which applies depends on whether the land is in a declared registration district, and land once brought in can't be withdrawn. Neither register is searchable online, so someone has to go in person.

The Assurance Fund makes a Certificate of Title look stronger on paper. A 2010 study found officials and lawyers saw transport as the more trusted document, though that finding is dated. Judge the actual title, not the label.

Documents that aren't outright ownership

• State lease. A lease of public land, handled by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC). The standard term is 50 years, and the land goes back to the State at the end. Most are along rivers and in the hinterland. Failing the lease conditions can lead to cancellation, and non-performing leases can be repossessed. GLSC said in 2018 that the law sets steps for converting to transport, but we couldn't find those steps or the fees.
• Long lease, including 999-year leases. Private long leases are passed and registered at the Deeds Registry. DCRA lists a 0.25% general fee, 1% land duty and six weeks for an original lease.
• CH&PA allocation. A house lot from the Central Housing and Planning Authority. An allocation letter is not title. Title usually follows through the Land Registry's transfer via Government, or by transport. CH&PA warns against reselling allocations, so check the seller actually holds title.
• Agreement of sale. A contract, not title. Before 2014 a buyer who paid a deposit had no legal or equitable interest in the property, only a contract. Now you can lodge a prohibition at the Deeds Registry to protect yourself. Lenders such as New Building Society accept an agreement as supporting paper.
• Amerindian communal land. Village land owned communally, with title held by the Village Council for the village. Treat it as not for sale. The Amerindian Act lists a section on inalienability, meaning it can't be sold off, but we've read only the heading. Anything on leasing needs legal review.

Someone already on the land

A person who has occupied land openly and exclusively for 12 years or more, without the owner's consent, can apply for prescriptive title. It works against transport and lease land. If a Certificate of Title holder objects with proof, the application must be dismissed. So walk the land, ask who lives or farms there, and tell your attorney about anyone who isn't the seller.

On this site, a listing that isn't a transport or Certificate of Title gets a plain warning. The title type is only the seller's statement unless the listing shows Title documents seen, and even that isn't a legal search.

General information only, not legal advice. A Guyanese attorney can tell you what the document in front of you actually gives you.