It was good to note (see Monday newspaper) that the Rental Committee has a new chair and other board members. One would hope this means they also got the necessary funding and facilities, which was a problem in the past.
Especially during or after crises such as a direct major hurricane-hit or pandemic the committee was flooded with lease terminations, but lacked resources to effectively deal with all. Although things have since improved in a socioeconomic sense, disasters can always occur and at least some reserve capacity can prove useful.
One aspect making the tribunal less impactful is the property value limit of 200,000 Netherlands Antillean guilders. While that may still be alright for Curaçao after which the relevant pre-10-10-10 legislation is modelled, housing is significantly more expensive in St. Maarten.
The committee itself is well aware of this and already in 2021 requested Parliament’s help to make changes. An increase to at least NAf. 350,000 was mentioned.
It could not be ascertained whether this ever happened, but even the latter amount seems pretty low. Going to court is therefore the only option for many tenants in case of rental disputes.
Considering the cost of legal proceedings and a basically unregulated local real estate market, this to a large extent leaves them at the mercy of landlords. A bit broader protection also for the middle-class would therefore no doubt be appreciated.
