A high court judge has ordered a Lookout resident to surrender the house he has lived in for 17 years and pay more then EC$34,000 in rent arrears.
Charlesworth Piper told Montserrat High Court that he had agreed to a 2013 scheme that allowed renters to take ownership of government properties under certain conditions.
However, in his written judgment Justice Brian Cottle explained that Piper, who was the claimant in the civil case, had not met the stipulated timeline nor payments for the transfer.
He had also rejected later settlement offers from the defendant, the Montserrat Land Development Authority – a statutory body responsible for management of government property.
“It is unfortunate that the claimant has come to this pass. However he has only himself to blame,” the acting high court judge wrote.
Claim and counterclaim
The judgment, which was published on 22 January, explained that Piper brought the case to court.
He sought exemplary, aggravated or vindicatory damages from the authority, arguing that it had unreasonably refused to recognise his legal entitlement to ownership of his home.
The claimant also sought declarations that any notice to quit served on him was invalid and that he was entitled to the property.
He requested an order directing the authority to transfer the freehold title to the property to him and a permanent injunction restraining it from interfering with his quiet enjoyment of the property.
The defendant resisted the claim and counterclaimed for arrears of rent and possession of the property, which Piper opposed.
“Despite the bitter contest that this claim turned out to be, the facts are fairly simple, and not really in dispute,” Cottle wrote.
Background
In May 2008, Piper entered into a tenancy agreement for the rental of property in Lookout for the monthly rent of $230.
He did not always pay the rental as it fell due, the judge wrote.
In June 2012, the authority said its solicitors wrote to Piper demanding the payment of 10 months’ rent which was then in arrears, and served a notice to vacate the property.
Piper admitted that he received the demand letter but said that no notice to quit was served on him. He remained in the property and paid no further rent.
In May 2013, the government decided to divest itself of property at Lookout including the land that Piper lived on, and offered them to tenants under certain conditions.
The offer was effective from 1 June, 2023 for three months, and those tenants must have already paid rent of an amount equal to or more than the assessed value of the land they occupied.
They could have the land title transferred to them upon payment of land transfer fees – 0.75% of the assessed value of the land – plus $100 for survey fees and $50 for the land certificate.
Offer expired
The government wrote to Piper in a letter dated 7 June and offered to have the property transferred under the stipulated conditions, the judge said.
The letter said the offer had to be accepted by 28 June – however, Piper said he did not receive the letter until 21 June and did not read it until sometime in July.
By that time the offer had expired, but despite that, he wrote to the permanent secretary on 22 July accepting the offer.
Piper later went to the authority’s office, and told the court that he sought to pay the transfer fees, the judge wrote.
No payment was accepted because by then he had instituted legal proceedings against the authority in the Magistrates Court, and it decided to only speak to Piper through a solicitor.
In December 2024, Piper attended the authority’s office once more and made a payment of $136, which he said was payment upon his acceptance of the 2013 offer of sale to him of the property.
“This was clearly not an acceptance in terms of the offer made to him in 2013,” the judge wrote.
“Apart from this payment being far too late, there is no payment of the survey fee, and the cost of the land certificate fee as required.”
During the litigation, the authority made several offers to settle the matter, including one that waived all accumulated rent arrears, however, Piper refused.
Decision
“Once these facts as I have gleaned from the evidence are stated it is clear that the claimant must fail,” Justice Cottle wrote.
He noted that the authority is the manager, not the owner, of the property, and therefore lacks the authority to offer it to the claimant, a fact that Piper was aware of.
The judge further stated that the authority had proven, on the balance of probabilities, that the arrears of rent, as claimed, were due and owing, and that it is entitled to immediate possession of the property.
He ruled that the claim be dismissed, and judgment be awarded to the authority in relation to its counterclaim.
Cottle ordered Piper to vacate the property, pay the arrears of $34,040, and cover the costs of $6,808 to the authority.
The judge also remarked that, despite the ruling, the authority may choose to advise the government to transfer the property to the claimant upon payment of $136, and forgo the arrears of rent.
