A campaigner angry over a new housing law that affects Islanders with foreign spouses, last night called for Bermudians to fight for their rights.

New legislation means Bermudians and their foreign spouses now have to apply for permission to buy property if the spouse in any way benefits from or contributes to payments for the home - even if they are not named on the deeds or the mortgage. Lawyers and realtors say the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2007 is unfair and that the licences can take between three and six months to obtain, meaning house sales often fall through, as reported in The Royal Gazette last week.

Ronald Viera, who last night announced the creation of a lobby group to amend the law, said the changes were unfair and infringed on the rights of all Bermudians regardless of their political position.

“The group is really not intended to be political,” he said. “This law affects those in the PLP as much as it does those in the UBP. This is purely a fight for our rights as Bermudians.

“No one knows who they are going to marry or for that matter who their children might marry. Even if you’re a Bermudian married to a Bermudian, we don’t know who our children will marry.” Anyone interested in joining the group can contact Mr. Viera at bermudian2007[AT]hotmail.com.

Adding his voice to those opposed to the law was Shadow Labour and Immigration Minister Trevor Moniz, who last night described the law as “quite severe and draconian” and said the licensing waiting time needed to be shortened.

He said those trying to get on the property ladder typically had a 30-day window to close the deal - but Bermudians with spouses from overseas would be unable to made that deadline because of the lengthy processing time for licences.

“Government needs to address that,” he said, adding that pre-approval for such couples should also be brought in, rather than the licence pertaining to a specific property.

The new law is aimed at outlawing fronting — the practice whereby non-Bermudians gain land or property on the Island using a Bermudian “front” — and Mr. Moniz said its intention was laudable. “We needed to do something about fronting,” he said. “I tabled questions in the House of Assembly in 1999 pointing out to then Immigration Minister Paula Cox that we had a very serious problem.

“Here we are eight years later with this quite severe and draconian legislation trying to deal with what has gone from a molehill to a mountain.”

He said the new law put restrictions which were not necessary on Bermudians with expatriate spouses.

“It needs to be fine tuned and tweaked so as not to produce injustice,” he said. “But what they (Department of Immigration) are doing is quite complicated, to be fair.

“Right now we are not quite sure how Government is going to enforce this. We need some form of guidance notes.

The long-term effect is going to be a softening of both the condominium market and a softening of the real estate market in the next three years.”

The licence for buying property costs $1,271 and the Department of Immigration is understood to be trying to reduce the processing time to less than a month.