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These questions are specific for people living outside of Timor-Leste who want to make a land claim.
How can I keep informed about the status of land claims in Timor-Leste?
- Monitor this website for updates and downloads
- Contact your family friends and representatives in Timor-Leste and ask them to keep you up to date (by checking community notice boards, listening to radio announcements, watching television announcements)
- Contact the Project here
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Does it cost any money to make a land claim?
No. The process is absolutely free.
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What if someone asks me to pay money to lodge my claim?
The land claims process is free. If someone tries to claim money in connection with your claim, report them immediately to the Project Head Office here.
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I made a claim in 2003. Must I make a claim again?
Yes. Most of the claims lodged in 2003 were incomplete in a number of ways. For example, there were relatively few claims lodged for the number of land parcels in Timor-Leste. Many claims were from foreign nationals and not Timorese. Many claims were not for land but other types of property (i.e. property damaged in 1999). Furthermore, many claims failed to identify properly the land being claimed (so it could not be identified). Also, much time has passed since that time and the original claims data may have changed. Therefore, new data must be collected.
Under the new process, the project data collectors will go to the land and help land claimants make their claims correctly. Land boundaries will be agreed between neighbors on the ground. Additionally, all claims will go through a Public Display Period of at least 30 days to enable community review of all claims. Claimants will then receive a receipt of for their claim that can be referred to in the future. Those claims are then entered into a database so that the information can be easily retrieved.
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How can I make a land claim in Timor-Leste?
You must wait for Data Collectors to come to you. Data Collectors will come to your land and help you or your representative to make a claim. To make a claim, you or your representative must identify your land boundaries with your neighbors and, with the help of the Data Collectors, fill-in a Form that identifies you as a claimant for the land. If you are not on your land at the time that data is being collected, you should ensure that your Representative is there so that you claim can be made.
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What if I am not living in Timor-Leste now? Can I make a claim from overseas?
Yes. You can make a land claim if you are living overseas but you must have a Representative in Timor-Leste be physically present at the time INR staff come to visit the property. It will be your Representative that identifies the boundaries of the land and works with the Data Collectors to complete your Land Claim Form.
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How do I make a claim through a Representative?
Simply nominate a trusted family member or friend, in writing, to act as your Representative. Your Representative should contact the INR Head Office, or the INR office in the area in which the land is located to find out the schedule for data collection in the area in which your land is located. Also, there are Public Notice points around the Public Display areas and at the Head Office of the DNTPSC and INR in Dili. Public Notices and Land Claims are also displayed here.
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Must I have a Representative?
Yes, if you live outside Timor-Leste and cannot be present at the Data Collection area, your representative must go to this location or the DNTPSC Office in Dili.
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Can I make my claim any time?
No. You can make your claim only between the times that Data Collectors come to your land and the closing of the Public Display of all claims for your area. Public Display of all claims in an area will be open for review for at least 30 days after data collection has finished. Once the Public Display period is completed, the land claims process is finished in that area and will not be re-opened.
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How do I fill out a Land Claim Form?
If you or your representative is on your land at the time that Data Collectors are collecting data, the Data Collectors will fill out the Claims for with you.
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My Representative and/or I do not feel comfortable returning to my land to make a claim but I want to make a claim anyway. What can I do?
You can still make a claim. In this case, contact the local Data Collection office (see how here) and they will help you and/or your representative to complete a Claim Form. But you must make your claim before the Public Display Period finishes.
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How can I know if my claim has been lodged?
If your Representative was present at the time that the data was collected, he or she will have received a receipt from the Data Collectors. If not, your representative should ask the local INR office for the receipt. Also, your claim will be published on Public Notice Boards in Dili, in the data collection areas and on this website. The Project will publish the dates on which Public Display will start and finish. Keep checking this website for updates!
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I cannot see my claim on the Website Public Display. What can I do?
This could be because all the claims data has not yet been fully processed and the Public Display maps have not yet been published. Please be patient. We are working as fast as we can to publish the data!
If the Public Display map for your area has been published but you cannot see your claim on it, then you will have at least 30 days from the date of publication to respond to any issues arising from the publication of the Public Display. If you do not see your claim either:
- Contact your Representative immediately so that he or she can alert the Field Teams in the data collection zones or
- Contact Project Staff here
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What documents are needed to make a claim?
You should produce documents that identify you and your Representative (e.g. Passport or Identity Card). You can also produce to the Data Collectors any document you have that connects you to the land (e.g. old title documents (from Indonesia or Portugal), Tax Receipts, Electricity Accounts and so on). But don’t worry if you do not have documents. Failure to produce documents will not stop you from making a claim but it may make it more difficult to prove your claim if someone else claims the same land and has documents to support the claim. Ensure that your representative has any documents so that they can be presented to the Data Collectors for photographing/copying.
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What if someone else makes a claim to the same land?
The data collection process is open, and everyone has the right to make a claim. When two or more people, groups or organizations make a claim to the same land parcel or disagree over the boundaries of a parcel, the claim is recorded as a "dispute". The dispute must be resolved before any party can be eligible for a title.
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How will conflicting land claims to the same land be resolved?
The data collection process will not resolve conflicting land claims. This process is simply about collecting the land claims. The Government of Timor-Leste has just released a draft law that will provide a legal basis to resolve conflicting land claims. This draft can be downloaded from the Legal page.
The Ita Nia Rai program encourages disputing parties to look for solutions at the community level or to try to come to an agreement through mediation. If you are able to come to an agreement by these means, you should contact the local DNTPSC and Ita Nia Rai offices and provide them with the information about the solution.
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What if I need more information about the process?
You can get more information about the land claims process by looking at our Frequently Asked Questions Book which is available in Tetum for download here [.pdf 328KB].
You can also contact either the DNTPSC or INR here.
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