A FEW WEEKS AGO, the Minister of Housing and Lands bemoaned the fact that there were in Barbados an inordinate number of vacant lots/houses whilst at the same time there were many citizens who were in dire need of housing solutions.
He then suggested that approaches should be made to the owners of these lots/properties to see if they could be made available to alleviate the apparent shortage of housing.
If the minister has read the last WEEKEND NATION, he should be aware of one of the prime reasons why this state of affairs has occurred. Ms Sandra Walkes has practically been forced to vacate her own house because of the actions of a tenant who has refused to leave as requested.
Very often in the dead of night, landlords are importuned by persons who have been evicted, in most instances by their own relatives, and are in dire need of a place to shelter “for a few days”.
Moved with pity by the pleadings, the landlords accede to their requests only to find that the few days requested parlay into months and even years, and when the property is now required by the landlords for their own uses, many of these erstwhile importunate tenants bluntly refuse to leave.
This results in the landlords having to resort to the law courts for assistance, acquiring the services of attorneys at law and in the process, which can take several months, incurring a whole raft of legal fees.
Whilst all of this is going on, the landlords are unable to receive any rents for the properties.
As hard as this may sound, many persons resort to taking the law into their own hands because they are frustrated by the system, which only seems to recognise the rights of the tenant to the detriment of the landlords, whose only initial thoughts were to do good deeds for their fellow man.
The tenants forget when they went on bended knees asking for “a lodging” in the beginning.
The landlord/tenant relationship is definitely skewed in favour of the tenant.
– ROLLINS HOWARD