The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The prime minister yesterday argued he is unable to undo the inflated prices charged to many homeowners in a government subdivision because their mortgages and title documents are already issued.

Dr Hubert Minnis, refuting allegations he has failed to deliver on promises to offer Ardastra Gardens Estates No.3 residents some $40,000 in rebates on houses his administration admits were sold “over-priced”, told the House of Assembly he “cannot change” what occurred prior to May 2017.

Asserting that 90 percent of the homes in the subdivision were sold under the former Christie administration, the prime minister said: “But I can amend moving forward.” This, he explained, was why the final six homes were sold at a lower $140,000 price - compared to a previous $184,000 average - because they represented the remaining inventory after his administration took office.

However, Dr Minnis’ argument that the Government could not undo what occurred before it took office was met with scepticism by the homeowners. Veron Pratt, president of the Ardastra Gardens Estates No.3 homeowners association, told Tribune Business the Prime Minister’s stance was “interesting”.

He queried why Dr Minnis would previously tell the House of Assembly that prices in the Government-developed subdivision had been dropped to $140,000 without clarifying that this happened in only six cases. 

Disclosing that the homeowners’ next step will be to talk to their attorney, Alfred Sears QC, who is also the Opposition candidate for their Fort Charlotte constituency in the upcoming election, Mr Pratt suggested the Government could act to remedy the situation if it truly wanted to.

“It’s not as if it’s a private developer,” he added. “Why can’t you, as the Government, reverse or adjust what was done before and go that route of making it a blank slate for everyone? To me, right now that’s not even fair.”

Pointing out that the Government acted as vendor via the Ministry of Housing, while the state-owned Mortgage Corporation provided the financing for most of the homeowners, he said of the actual purchase: “They gave us a price and told me what I was qualified for.

“If the Ministry of Housing were the ones responsible for the houses, they would be the ones who would have those homes appraised and be able to tell us the value of those homes.” This raises questions both as to the accuracy of initial appraisals, whether they were ever done, and if the homeowners and Mortgage Corporation got their own separate valuation statements.

Mr Pratt at the weekend said he had purchased his home in Ardastra Gardens Estates No.3 for $159,000, but a neighbour had bought her’s for around $190,000. “A home like mine, when they did the appraisal on it, it was only valued at $120,000,” he added.

“The houses are $40,000 less than what we paid for them. They just never gave us the rebate. We’ve been fighting this for a while. Getting them to even sit down and listen to us is something we couldn’t get done.”

Mr Pratt said cracks in interior and exterior walls; septic tanks that overflowed and needed to be pumped every two weeks; and the fact homeowners had to pay for fill to level off their yards, were among the challenges that remain or have been overcome.

“There’s a lot of issues around here, and we’ve been complaining to [the Ministry of] Housing but housing are saying if those complaints come a year afterwards, it’s not their responsibility; not their problem,” he added.

Mr Pratt backed the contents of a release by Mr Sears as “true”. The latter struck a non-political tone, agreeing that the problems of Ardastra Gardens Estates No.3 started with the former Christie administration, but now the responsibility for correcting the matter lay with the current government.

The former attorney general cited construction defects that include “uneven house flooring, uneven yards, interior and exterior cracks in walls, improper wiring, missing knobs on cabinets, water leakages under cracks of tiles, irregular and incomplete tiling, water pipes installed overhead in houses, holes in exterior walls and improper drainage”.

The homes were constructed by 30-40 contractors in a process managed by Arawak Homes, but Mr Sears said owners had been forced to hire private contractors at their expense to remedy the defects rather than the Government correcting the problem itself.

Detailing a similar valuation issue to that outlined by Mr Pratt, he added: “For example, Anthony Strachan and Tiffany Strachan purchased Lot 56 in Ardastra Gardens in 2017 at a purchase price of $167,600, and entered a mortgage with the Mortgage Corporation in the amount of $176,242.

“One year later, the Strachans had their home appraised and the appraisal established that their home was valued 40 percent less than what they had paid for the home. It is inexplicable why the Government has not provided any rebates to the residents of Ardastra Subdivision, in light of the public admission of the minister of housing and the Prime Minister that the price at which the Government sold these homes was not a ‘fair price’ to achieve the public policy and statutory objectives of the Ministry of Housing.”

Mr Sears continued: “The Government, in its commercial capacity as developer and seller of the homes in Ardastra Estates No.3, had a duty of care to act in good faith and reasonably in the design, selection of the builder and construction of the homes.

“The Government, in its regulatory capacity, had a duty to act in good faith and reasonably in the inspection and issuance of certificates of occupancy. I believe that the Government, under both the former and present administrations, must take responsibility for the said problems in Ardastra Estates No.3.”