IN LAST WEEK’S ARTICLE I mentioned that the tenant of land on which a chattel house has been sited can obtain security of tenure if he is a qualified tenant within the meaning of the Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act.
Over the next few weeks I will highlight the substance of that legislation commencing with its initial enactment in 1980.
There are some areas of contention with respect to the interpretation of some aspects of the legislation. However, my focus will be on the actual provisions which I believe to be not the subject of legal dispute.
On November 1, 1980, the Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act came into operation ushering in a regime that would have the effect ultimately of transferring the interest in land to the occupants of plantation tenantries and other tenants as defined in the legislation.
It gave the tenants who qualified a right to purchase land at a purchase price governed by “considerations of public policy and the requirements of the Constitution”.
Section 3(2) provided that it should receive “such fair, large and liberal construction and interpretation as will best ensure the attainment of its purposes”.
The long title read: “An act to provide a right for tenants of lots in certain tenantries to purchase the freehold in those lots; to alter Section 16 of the Constitution to ensure the constitutionality of the right; and to provide for matters related or incidental thereto.”
In that act, a tenantry was defined as:
(a) a plantation tenantry, and
(b) an area of the land is subdivided, before or after the commencement of this act, into lots for letting as sites for chattel buildings to be used as dwellinghouses whether the land is vested in the Crown, in a statutory board or in any person, but does not include land adjoining the foreshore.
“Lot” was defined to “include such part of a lot of land as constitutes a house spot within the meaning of the Security of Tenure of Small Holdings Act Cap. 237.
“Tenant” meant “an individual who occupies a lot comprised in a tenantry pursuant to a tenancy, whether that tenancy exists by virtue of a lease, contract or licence and either at law or in equity”.
Section 3(1) stated the purposes were “to establish by law a right for tenants of lots in tenantries who satisfy the requirements of this act to purchase the freehold at a purchase price governed by considerations of public policy and the requirements of the Constitution”.
In the Security of Tenure Of Small Holdings Act, a house spot was defined as “any parcel of land comprised in contract of tenancy made (whether or not the contract of tenancy expressely so provides) in contemplation of land being used solely as a site of a chattel building and cartilage and appurtenant thereto for the use of the tenant, as a dwelling house or as a place of business”.
Section 4(1) stipulated that, notwithstanding any other law or any term or condition of any lease, contract or licence relating to tenancy, it is a term or condition of every tenancy within a plantation tenantry or other tenantry that the tenant, as of right and at this option may, if he is a qualified tenant, purchase the freehold of the lot of which he is tenant at a price to be determined according to the relevant provisions of the Second Schedule.
Section 4(2) provided that, subject to Section 31,a qualified tenant of a lot was a tenant:
“(a) who at the commencement of this act, is residing on the lot and has been so residing –
(i) for five consecutive years immediately preceding that day, or
(ii) for five years out of the seven years immediately preceding that day; or
(b) who at any particular time after the commencement of this act, is a tenant who has, at that particular time,
(i) been residing on the lot for five consecutive years, or
(ii) been residing on the lot for five years outof the immediately preceding seven years.”
Section 5 provided that a qualified tenant could exercise his right to purchase the lot of which he is tenant by giving notice to the landlord, who in turn at the time had the duty to convey the land to the tenant at a price to determined in accordance with Section 4.
The act gave a qualified tenant the right to purchase the freehold at a price determined by public policy rather than the market, thus affording thousands an opportunity to own land on which they were previously tenants.
The act was amended on several occasions andin 1990 six or more lots were required to constitute a non-plantation tenantry.
• Cecil McCarthy is a Queen’s Counsel. Sendyour letters to Everyday Law, Nation House, Fontabelle, St Michael. Send your email to [email protected].
