Real Estate Board investigation leads to developer's arrest
Published:Sunday | May 1, 2011 | 12:00 AM
A local housing developer has been charged by the Fraud Squad after regulator, the Real Estate Board (REB), initiated investigations and subsequently alleged he was advertising and collecting money for a project that had not been approved by the agency.
Devon Evans of North American Holdings Limited was charged under the Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act, said REB inspector of investigations, Pete Francis.
The board initiated the probe after noting advertisements for the pre-sale of units for a development called Monteverde Estates, located at 39 Wellington Drive in Kingston.
Evans was held at his Beverley Hills home in Kingston on April 19 and charged by the Police Fraud Squad with fraudulent conversion, allegedly for collecting J$8.25 million from a couple as a 50 per cent deposit on a unit at Monteverde Estates and failing to return the money.
He was also charged with breaches of Section 26 and 27 of the Real Estate Act, which deal with restrictions on contracts and on advertising.
The developer, who is fighting the charges, is free on bail of J$5 million, and returns to court in June.
His lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, was not inclined to comment on the allegations.
"Those are just charges," he said Thursday.
"We will deal with all the matters in court. I am not trying the case in the media."
Convictions for entering into a pre-payment contract in contravention of sub-Section 1 of Section 26 of the Real Estate Act carry a fine of up to J$50,000 in a Resident Magistrate's Court and/or imprisonment for no more than two years.
According to Francis, Evans has not provided the Real Estate Board with proof of ownership of the land since submitting the project for approval in early 2009.
"He submitted a proposal, which could not be approved as he could not provide documentation in support of ownership of the land," said Francis.
"The development is still being advertised," he said, adding that the couple that made the deposit is still to be reimbursed.
no sales agreement
The name on the title at 39 Wellington Drive, where the houses are slated to be constructed, is Androcles Limited.
Francis said that in November 2008, lawyers representing North American Holdings wrote the Real Estate Board to say that a sales agreement would have been provided, but it never was.
Written requests by the Real Estate Board to Evans for removal of the advertisements were made in June and November 2009, and again in January 2010.
Francis said repeated requests from the Real Estate Board for removal of advertisements for the property and another from the company's website, www.northamericajamaica.com, and for the developer to return the deposit, were unsuccessful.
The advertisement for Monteverde, seen by Sunday Business, says the units are priced at J$16.5 million each, and that the development is planned to comprise two blocks of 16 apartments each.
Francis said that North American Holdings has previously executed and sold approved projects.