HDC Confirms Title Search Fees Apply Only After Housing Allocation

Applicants for Housing Development Corporation homes must pay title search fees only when they are allocated a home, Housing Minister David Lee has confirmed, following complaints from people who paid for searches but received no housing allocation. According to the Trinidad Express, Lee said the revised procedure prevents applicants from incurring the expense before their allocation is confirmed. HDC chairman Feeroz Khan said the corporation discontinued its previous fee collection practice at the beginning of 2026. The clarification concerns when payment becomes due. Title searches remain compulsory, and the fee remains $350 per person. An individual allocated a home would therefore pay $350, while two applicants jointly receiving a home would pay $700. Lee said the former arrangement required applicants to pay for searches without a guarantee that they would receive housing. Where applications involved two people, the combined charge could reach $700. He criticised the practice under the former People’s National Movement administration, saying it created expectations among applicants who subsequently received no home. The issue arose after Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander raised concerns about complaints from people who said they had paid search fees to the HDC but were never allocated housing. Lee attributed the procedural change to the United National Congress administration. Khan confirmed that the corporation had previously collected the money before allocations were finalised. He told the Express that applicants who were never allocated homes effectively lost the money they had paid for the searches. However, he stressed that ownership checks remain necessary to comply with a Cabinet requirement that beneficiaries must not have owned property before. The revised procedure changes the payment stage while retaining that verification requirement. The clarification also draws attention to the difference between selection for assessment and a confirmed housing allocation. According to HDC procedures described in the report, applicants selected through its modified random selection process must undergo interviews, financial assessments and other checks before approval and allocation. Selection for those assessments does not guarantee a home. The corporation requires applicants to be first-time homeowners who do not own or part-own property or land in Trinidad and Tobago. It has also warned that housing applications are free and that no payment can expedite an application or guarantee an allocation. For applicants, the practical distinction is between the free application process and the mandatory title search fee payable upon allocation. The officials’ clarification confirms that being called for assessment alone should not trigger that charge.