St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) director Helen Salomon minced no words (see related story) in her end-of-year message looking back at 2020 and forward to 2021. She mentioned the importance of a March 20 court decision ordering 18 delinquent tenants to pay their owed rent.
This gives a basis for eviction so they can no longer “hide behind the state of disrepair” of their units. The latter is precisely why SMHDF lacks finances to do enough maintenance and repairs, according to her.
While there is also another ruling that tenants having to live in such conditions for too long may make their own verifiable arrangements to have the problems fixed and deduct such from the rent in a reasonable manner, it can never be an excuse not to pay at all. Just because this regards a foundation established by government seems to make certain people feel it is alright to consistently not meet their contractual obligation.
After all, most private landlords on the island would not stand for that kind of behaviour either and probably find ways to get the defaulting tenant out, sometimes even with equally unlawful actions. A case where the entire roof of a dwelling was removed comes to mind, which obviously got the property owner in trouble before the judge. To be sure, involvement of the Rent Tribunal is mandatory for low- to middle-income homes.
Salomon said that despite the favourable ruling some structurally delinquent tenants got support from local politicians to try to stop their evictions. Keep in mind that this step requires an entire legally-sound process and is only taken after all other options including repeated warnings to at least make a payment arrangement or settlement have been exhausted.
Of course, evicting people who may only now have become delinquent due to the coronavirus-related socioeconomic crisis would be a bit cruel, but there are tenants who have not paid rent for years. SMHDF rightly points out that this unfairly stops others in need of scarce affordable housing from getting it.
The foundation said it “no longer intends to be hindered by outside political interference” in executing eviction orders. As they say, “if the shoe fits, wear it.”
