BEA DOTTIN
Tenants must pay up or be kicked out
DEBT TO THE TUNE of $9 million is owed to Government for residential and commercial rent.
Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development George Payne revealed in the last WEEKEND NATION that $6.2 million was owed to the National Housing Corporation (NHC), and just over $3 million to the Crown was owed in rent, with commercial tenants owing just over 90 per cent of the latter.
On the other hand, prior to the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, Government owed private landlords $44 million as of July last year.
NATION readers shared their thoughts on the matter.
Erica Murray: Chain-lock the buildings or throw them out on their ears. Another alternative, sell their properties for the total value owed. People need to learn to pay their bills.
Lloyd P Gulston: It completely baffles me how this amount of arrears could actually reach the sum total accumulated. What are the rules, regulations, protocols or actions used to deal with defaulters when rent is not paid after a period of three months?
Shane Peters: People really . . . saying poor people want jailing for rent money? This Government wrote off millions of dollars in taxes for the rich man and people calling for this same Government to jail poor people. If it’s good for the goose, it should be good for the gander. They gave the rich a write-off; give the poor a write-off also.
Joycelyn Cumberbatch:
National Insurance and PAYE are compulsory to be deducted from your salaries/wages, so I think said should be done for the NHC tenants. Lots of homeowners in Barbados have their homes rented out and living in NHC units and are not paying up; that is the first thing Government [should] dig into.
Sheldine Dyall: Government needs to put a policy in place where rent should never go over two months.
Sandra Jones: It would be stupid to jail people for rent owed. Go to the people, let them make arrangements to pay. If they don’t want to pay, put them out.
from nationnews.com
