Tough new laws tabled by Government yesterday will see jail terms of up to five years and million dollar fines for foreigners or trustees who buy land without approval.

The act is a bid to crack down on fronting trusts illegally buying land for non-Bermudians.

Explaining the act Labour and Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess told : ?Once we put the legislation in place people who have acquire land in Bermuda, via fronting, will have three years to bring it in accordance with the law.

?If it?s not done and it?s found out there are consequences. It?s quite severe. Bermuda is only 21 square miles and we have 6,000 acres of zoned residential land and almost 40 percent of it is owned by non-Bermudians.

?So we don?t have the luxury of land but we do have grandchildren and great grandchildren so we try to be fair to them ? as any country would do this size.?

But he said in the past legal loopholes had let people get away with acquiring land they shouldn?t have.

Last year Government said there was financial evidence non-Bermudians were using fronts to buy property because annual revenue for licence fees for legitimate sales had fallen from $13 million in the late 1990s to just under $5 million, at a time when there was an unprecedented demand for real estate.

In 2004 the Crown tried to prosecute an alleged sham trust which they claimed had helped buy a $3 million house in Paget but the case was dropped when Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley ruled the search warrants should be quashed.

The Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2006 promises to thwart those trying to get around licensing requirements required for foreigners and to limit corporate land-holding.