I am thinking of purchasing a plot of land on the St Elizabeth /Westmoreland border with a view to building in the future and would like my own lawyer to represent me.There seems to be the widespread practice in Jamaica of the same lawyer acting for both vendor and purchaser and it's not difficult to see why there is a conflict of interest. Can anyone recommend a lawyer with specialism in this area. I live in England and would love to hear from anyone who has been through this process.Please share your experience.Thanks

Hi,we bought a small piece of land about 2 years ago in Treasure Beach and used a lawyer in Black River who was great.Nehmbards(Sp?)We also live in England. There are quite a lot of hidden fees to pay, mostly to the Government.It also takes about a year to get the title.In fact the whole process seemed to take forever!I'll try to hunt out the paperwork to get an idea of the cost and post back over the weekend.

It is the Jamaican cutom to have both parties use the same lawyer. Do NOT do this no matter how convincing an argument you hear. We did, and we ended up with the very short end of the stick. The amount of money we lost in the transaction was far more than the portion of the lawyer's fee we paid. The reason was quite clear: The lawyer represented the seller in many transactions and continues to represent the seller. We were a one-time deal. Guess who won?

I've used several over the last four decades; been most satisfied with
Jacquelyn A. Hamilton <jahall@cwjamaica.com>;

Thank you all, ever so much for your advice and for sharing your experience- much appreciated.Anonymous sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience.I've heard other similar stories so I am approaching this transaction with the utmost caution.Don I'll be contacting Ms Hamilton shortly.Once again thank you.

Don Noel has provided a very good recommendation in Jackie Hall (Hamilton)