The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE repossession of homes by commercial banks and other mortgage lenders has contributed to the country’s crime woes, with many vacant homes now being used for “peddling drugs” and conducting other illicit activities, State Minister of National Security Keith Bell said yesterday.

Senator Bell, speaking to The Tribune on the sidelines of a Senate debate over the Homeowners Protection Bill 2017, said due to a lack of maintenance of homes repossessed by various banks, on an almost “daily basis”, police officers continue to uncover guns or drugs hidden in them.

He called for banks to “work together and connect the dots” with the government in ensuring that prior to the repossession of any home, notwithstanding the parameters of the Bill, there is “some agency responsible for monitoring these homes to make sure that the yard is properly maintained, that the place is not being used for drugs or some other crime”.

Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, in her Senate contribution on the Bill, reiterated earlier comments by officials that roughly 1,700 homeowners have been deemed eligible for the government’s revamped mortgage relief programme, with 1,464 of those borrowers already contacted and 408 borrowers having completed all of the requirements for enrollment in the initiative.

Regarding home repossession and its impact on crime, Senator Bell said police have realised that while more “seasoned” criminals are less likely to allow themselves to be caught in possession of an unlicensed firearm or drugs, those individuals would instead opt to “put the firearm on the vacant property right next to them, but close enough that if they need to get it or use it or whatever it’s there”.

“So you have these homes that are sitting there, vacant possession, and because they’re not being maintained by these institutions they’re falling into disrepair, and they’re being used by criminals either for hiding out, hiding their drugs and hiding guns,” he said. “The police almost on a daily basis, when they search these places, they’ve been finding firearms, they’ve been finding drugs, and particularly in some of the outskirts and some of the over the hill areas that has been happening a lot.

“I can take you into all of the communities,” he added. “Every single community has repossessed homes that have fallen into disrepair. You can go into all of these areas where we’re having high crime - Yellow Elder is one example. You can go into any of the areas in the southwest corridor, you will see homes that are repossessed, they are closed up, they have fallen into disrepair, they are overgrown and the homes are now in the bush.

“And so when you look you see a track road leading into the homes, and if you keep looking you’ll see guys going in and you’ll see them peeping out, which means that they’re peddling drugs from there.

“And so we have to begin to work together and connect the dots, where we decide if you’re going to repossess the home, properly close it up and have some agency responsible for monitoring these homes to make sure that the yard is properly maintained, that the place is not being used for drugs or some other crime.”

The Homeowners Protection Bill 2017 is designed to make Bahamian mortgage holders more secure in their homes in the event of default, something the government wants to achieve through inserting the courts into the foreclosure and ‘power of sale’ process.

The Bill requires lenders to give delinquent borrowers 30 days’ notice before either invoking their ‘power of sale’ under the mortgage or seeking a court-approved foreclosure.

In both cases, borrowers can apply to the Supreme Court for relief. On the foreclosure process, the court can adjourn, stay or suspend the matter if it believes the borrower will be able to pay principal and accrued interest within six months.

As for the ‘power of sale’, the latest version of the bill allows the court to postpone this for “a reasonable period where a sum equal to at least one half of the principal, and accrued interest, has been paid at a specified time.”

Mortgage relief and protection for homeowners were key planks of the Progressive Liberal Party’s campaign before the 2012 general election. Mortgage relief was implemented early in this term; however the programme underperformed, leading Prime Minister Perry Christie to admit in 2013 that only four or five homeowners were expected to receive assistance.

The Homeowners Protection Bill 2017 was tabled in the House of Assembly in February.