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Register properties to prevent fraudsters claiming them, warns CMC
Owners of 60,000 properties within the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) limits, currently unregistered, have been called to register with the council or run the risk of fraudsters acquiring their lands.
A senior council official said the CMC had issued Assessment Numbers to some 167,000 properties; but only about 105,000 properties across its 47 administrative divisions had been registered with the council in accordance with the law.
“Registering ownership of the property before the end of the year will enable us to issue a Notice of Assessment for 2022 with the name of the registered owner,” the official noted.
If a property is not registered, it leaves room for fraudsters to draft fake deeds for the properties and sell them. Given the value of properties within the CMC limits, this has become a common practice, and the CMC has urged property owners to register their properties with the CMC immediately to prevent this.
Earlier this week, CMC Commissioner Roshini Dissanayake issued a statement stressing that it is essential for owners to register their property with the CMC to ensure the safety of their property.
The CMC has also started issuing the rates bills for the payment of assessment taxes for properties under the names of registered owners. This means a person who is not the registered owner of a property will not be able to pay assessment taxes for that particular property.
Owners can apply to register their properties with the CMC by submitting their abstracts of title deeds along with other documents including a covering letter by a notary public, a certificate from the notary public confirming that the applicant is the owner of the property, and a copy of the property’s survey plan. Once the process is complete, the CMC will issue a certificate of ownership under the name of the property owner.