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MPLA to issue over 100 deeds to homesteaders
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Posted on Feb 16 2005
Over 100 certificates of compliance and quitclaim deeds will be issued to qualified homesteaders within the next two weeks, the Marianas Public Lands Authority announced yesterday.
MPLA commissioner Edward Deleon Guerrero said the agency is now finalizing the legal documents for the release of the deeds.
A list of the individuals and a notification requesting that they visit the MPLA office for the purpose of obtaining their compliance certificates and deeds will be printed in the local papers once the documents are ready for pick up, DeLeon Guerrero said.
The list will also be posted on MPLA’s website at www.mpla.gov.mp, he added.
Compliance certificates and quitclaim deeds are issued after homestead recipients complete the three-year homesteading period. This means that a homesteader should have built a house and occupied it within the two years after the homestead permit is issued. The law also requires the homesteader to continue occupying that house throughout the third year.
To ensure compliance with these regulations, MPLA staff inspect the development of the lots on a regular basis.
“[MPLA] congratulates these homesteaders for their diligence in adhering to, and commitment to meeting the requirements of the program,” said MPLA chair Ana Demapan-Castro. “Furthermore, while cognizant of the hardships that come with building a home, the MPLA wants to encourage other homesteaders to follow suit in fulfilling the primary intent of the Homesteading Program.”
Demapan-Castro also urged current homestead applicants and permit holders to apply for one of the estimated 130 houses that will be built through the Plumeria Estate project, which is expected to be completed in November 2006.
MPLA recently designated a portion of public land in Koblerville to the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. for the project.
As a condition for its decision, the MPLA board of directors instructed NMHC to give priority to existing homestead applicants and permitees when approving applications.
