condominiums.

Health and Family Services Minister Wayne Furbert told the House of Assembly that the act would allow people living in the condominiums to buy the land attached to them as well as the house.

He added the land would be sold off for the peppercorn sum of $1 to buyers.

And he said the move would mean pride in their property for tenants-turned-homeowners.

He was backed by Youth and Sport Minister John Barritt who has a Bermuda Housing Corporation-run development in his Devonshire South constituency.

Mr. Barritt said: "It's very important to allow the people who have the ownership of these properties to call the shots on how the area will develop.'' The Condominium Amendment Act 1998 changes the law to include previously-Government owned and maintained garden areas to be included with the properties they are attached to.

United Bermuda Party backbencher Leonard Gibbons added: "This is a true partnership...I have seen the change and we all know that when there is a change in the environment everybody gets out and paints their houses and cuts their hedges.

"This Government can take pride in promoting ownership pride and with ownership comes responsibilities.'' But PLP backbencher Ottiwell Simmons said he had noticed a decline in some areas of Government housing -- in maintenance areas which were Government's responsibility under the current set-up.