Country-wide policy
Holding Land as an Alien
Land in Dominica held by an unlicensed alien is forfeited to the State. The Aliens Land Holding Regulation Act 1995 is a separate statute from everything else in the relocation picture and it is the one most likely to catch a newcomer, because it bites on ownership rather than on status. What makes Dominica's version different from the Kittitian one is who counts as an alien: the definition excludes citizens of the OECS Member States, so an Antiguan, Grenadian, Kittitian, Saint Lucian or Vincentian buys land here on the same footing as a Dominican. Everyone else may hold one acre for residence or three for trade or business without a licence, on paying the Accountant General ten per cent of the market value, and needs a licence beyond that.
Topics it changes
What it requires
- For an OECS citizen: nothing - you are not an alien for this Act
- For anyone else, up to one acre for residence or three acres for trade or business: no licence, but a fee of ten per cent of market value to the Accountant General
- For an approved development acquired under section 5: a fee of six thousand dollars instead of the ten per cent
- For an approved development: an application for development permission under the Physical Planning Act within six months of acquiring the land, and construction begun within one year of permission
- For anything beyond those limits: a licence under the Act
- For a company: a check on whether it is under alien control, which is at least half the votes or half the voting shares
At a glance
- Consequence of holding land unlicensed
- Forfeiture to the State
Section 3(2).
- Who is not an alien
- Citizens of the OECS Member States
Section 2(1), by reference to Article 2 of the 1981 Treaty of Basseterre, with a special rule for Montserrat belongers. Saint Kitts and Nevis's equivalent Act carves out nobody, so CARICOM and OECS nationals are aliens there.
- Land an alien may hold without a licence, residential
- 1 acre
Section 4(1).
- Land an alien may hold without a licence, trade or business
- 3 acres
Section 5.
- Land an alien may hold on an annual tenancy or less
- 2 acres
Section 6(a), for the alien's own residence, trade or business.
- Fee on an unlicensed acquisition
- 10 per cent of market value
Section 4(2), payable to the Accountant General. Act 7 of 2018 extended it to section 5 acquisitions by inserting the words "or section 5".
- Fee for an approved development
- EC$6,000
Section 5A(1), inserted by Act 17 of 2015 and substituted by Act 7 of 2018 so that section 4(2) does not also apply.
- Penalty for not developing
- EC$20,000, then forfeiture
Section 5A(3) and (4): twenty thousand dollars for failing to apply for development permission within six months or to begin construction within a year, and forfeiture if the penalty is unpaid within a year and three months of permission.
- Company under alien control
- Half the votes or half the voting shares
Section 2(2). A body that becomes an alien by a change of ownership has three months to apply for a licence under section 7(1).
The OECS carve-out
Section 2(1) defines an alien as an individual who is not a citizen of one of the Member States, and section 2(1) defines "The Member States" by reference to Article 2 of the Treaty signed at Basseterre on 18 June 1981 - the OECS. Montserrat gets its own rule: a belonger under Montserratian immigration law counts. The effect is that free movement within the Eastern Caribbean carries with it a right to own land in Dominica that no other foreigner has. Saint Kitts and Nevis, whose Alien Landholding Regulation Act defines an alien by reference to its own Immigration Act, carves out nobody at all: a Dominican buying land in Saint Kitts is an alien and needs a licence from the Governor-General. The two neighbours have taken opposite approaches to the same question.
Two amendments pulling in opposite directions
Section 4(2) as enacted required an alien acquiring land under "subsection (1) of section 5" to pay ten per cent of market value, which cannot have been meant, since section 5 has no subsections. Act 17 of 2015 deleted the words "of section 5", leaving the fee on section 4(1) acquisitions only, and inserted a new section 5A charging six thousand dollars on an approved development. Act 7 of 2018, deemed in force from the same day in November 2015 that the 2015 Act was gazetted, then inserted "or section 5" into section 4(2) - putting the ten per cent back on trade and business acquisitions - and rewrote section 5A(1) to say that section 4(2) does not apply to an approved development. Three years of legislation to arrive at a rule that could have been drafted once.
An approved development comes with obligations
Section 5A does not merely set a fee. An alien acquiring land under section 5 for an approved development must apply for development permission under the Physical Planning Act within six months of acquiring the land, and must begin construction within a year of receiving it. Failure attracts a penalty of twenty thousand dollars, and if the penalty is unpaid a year and three months after permission, the land is forfeited. This is the provision that turns a landholding statute into a development-control one.
What the law says
«3. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act land in Dominica may not be held by an unlicensed alien.
(2) Any land held contrary to subsection (1) shall be forfeited to the State.»This instrument is published only as an image. The wording above was read off that picture and checked by eye, so it did not pass the machine verbatim check the other quotations passed. Treat it as accurate but re-read the scan before relying on it.
«(a) an individual who is not a citizen of one of the Member States and in the case of Montserrat an individual who does not have the status of “Belonger” under the law in force in Montserrat regulating immigration;»The OECS carve-out, and the single most valuable sentence in the Act for a reader moving within the Eastern Caribbean.
«4. (1) Subject to subsection (2), an alien may acquire and hold not more than one acre of land for residential purposes without obtaining a licence under this Act.
(2) On acquiring land under subsection (1) of section 5 the alien shall pay a fee equivalent to ten per cent of the market value of the land to the Accountant General.»Subsection (2) as printed refers to "subsection (1) of section 5", which is a drafting slip: section 5 has no subsections. Act 17 of 2015 deleted the words "of section 5" and Act 7 of 2018 then inserted "or section 5" after the figure "(1)", so the fee now reaches acquisitions under both sections.
«5. Subject to section 4(3), an alien may acquire and hold no more than three acres of land for the purposes of trade or business without obtaining a licence under this Act.»This instrument is published only as an image. The wording above was read off that picture and checked by eye, so it did not pass the machine verbatim check the other quotations passed. Treat it as accurate but re-read the scan before relying on it.
«5A. (1) On acquiring land under section 5 for an
approved development, the alien shall pay a fee of six
thousand dollars to the Accountant General.
(2) On acquiring land, under section 5 for an
approved development the alien shall -
(a) make an application for development
permission under the Physical
Planning Act, 2002 within six months
of acquiring the land; and
(b) commence construction of the
approved development within one year
of receipt of development permission
under the Physical Planning Act, 2002.
(3) An alien who fails to comply with
subsection (2) is liable to a penalty of twenty thousand
dollars.»Cite the resulting section. Act 17 of 2015 inserted it; Act 7 of 2018 substituted subsection (1) so as to disapply section 4(2) expressly.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«“(1) On acquiring land under section 5 for an approved
development, section 4(2) does not apply and the alien shall pay a
fee of six thousand dollars to the Accountant General on the
acquisition.”.»The substitution adds the words "section 4(2) does not apply", which settles whether an approved-development buyer pays the six thousand dollars as well as the ten per cent or instead of it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The government's collection: the Revised Laws of 1990 as chapters, plus Acts and Statutory Rules and Orders year by year.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current text of any Act: the chapters are the 1990 revised edition authorised to the mid-nineties, and later amending Acts sit in the collection without being folded in - the immigration chapter prints its last amendment as 1995 while the database lists six later ones. It must not be cited for completeness either: the visa-exemption Regulations actually in force are absent from it entirely, as are three Acts of one recent year, so an absence here is not proof of non-existence. Every chapter is an image-only scan, so a quotation from one is a recognition. And its catalogue titles are unreliable - one instrument is listed under a name that is not its short title.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Aliens Land Holding Regulation Act 1995 is published as a scan with no text layer and every quotation from it is a recognition of a picture, marked accordingly. The two amending Acts of 2015 and 2018 are born-digital and are not.
We did not read the Aliens Land Holding Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007, Act 16 of 2007, which the Government's law collection also carries. Whether it altered any of the figures stated here is not something we checked.
The definition of "approved development" in section 5A(5) begins "a touri..." in the stored reading and is cut off by a page break. Nothing here states what an approved development is.