Citizens association loses legal bid to collect maintenance fees from residents
Published:Tuesday | October 24, 2023 | 5:56 PM
A citizens association for a St Andrew townhouse complex on Monday failed in its legal battle to collect maintenance fees from two residents after a court found that it was not a legal body and therefore had no right to force them to pay.
The court upheld submissions that the Wellington Glades Citizens Association was not listed on the titles for properties at the complex.
Errol Campbell and his wife Ruth were sued by the association for $474,000 and continuing at $5,600 monthly.
The claim was brought on behalf of the association by its president Junior Smikle in relation to the housing complex located at 6 Wellington Road in St Andrew.
The claimant had contended that the association provided several services to residents of the complex but that the defendants had stopped paying maintenance fees since 2019.
The defendants said they used to pay but because the association was not being run properly they stopped.
The defendants said when they bought the property the association was never a part of their registered title.
Attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman, who represented the defendants, challenged the claim and argued that the association was operating an illegal strata.
Wildman, in cross-examining the claimant, suggested that the association was not known to the law and the association had no basis to bring any claim against the defendants.
The defendants' land title was presented in court to show that the association was not registered as part of their title.
Parish Court Judge Alicia McIntosh ruled yesterday that the association was not a legal body and dismissed the claim.
The case began last year in the Civil Division of the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
Attorney-at-law Duke Foote appeared with Wildmam.
- Barbara Gayle
Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.