Wealthy persons use adverse possession to get lands, too
Published:Monday | May 28, 2018 | 12:00 AMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Reporter
Lawyers discussing the issue of squatting in Jamaica, and citing a Westmoreland property illegally occupied, charged yesterday that affluent persons have used adverse possession to secure titles to land they did not buy.
Attorney-at-law Lisa Campbell argued that it was not true that only poor persons used adverse possession, that is, "12 years of sole, open and continuous possession of property," to secure titles of land they did not buy.
"It is a misnomer to believe that some squatters are from a particular background: schoolteachers, other hard-working and working-class persons with no ability to purchase are squatting. But it's not them alone. There are other persons, affluent persons who still seek ownership through adverse possession," Campbell said during a press conference at the Pegasus hotel in Kingston yesterday.
Her statement was supported by attorney-at-law Mikhail H.R. Williams, who argued that "wealthy persons have acquired lands using adverse possession".
Addressing the press conference, he said it was a misnomer that squatters have rights. "What they have is a right to acquire a title. But once there is violence and secrecy, squatters are not entitled to a title. Violence and secrecy prevent the gaining of a title under adverse possession," he explained.
Citing the judgment in the case of Beresford v The Ministry of Water and Housing, Williams said that the first sentence of the judgement by Justice Lennox Campbell was that "the claimants are squatters." He accepted that there was a lacuna in the law as to how to get persons off one's property where judgment was in the owner's favour.
Attorney Alimi Banjoko represents Kathleen Eugster who is seeking possession of the 867-acre property in western Westmoreland which has been occupied by squatters for years. Banjoko said it was very disheartening for Eugster, whose husband was killed on the property in 2004 after he began court action and after "seeing Jamaicans in her Wisconsin neighbourhood" in the United States.
"There is a wider case of how we deal with the issue of squatting, especially where people want their property for development or sale," Banjoko said via telephone from overseas. "It is not a matter of pushing people off lands because you have the right, it is a matter for the orderly development of a society."
Speaking on behalf of Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, Senator Sophia Frazer-Binns said that the commission formed by the opposition was looking at all issues, including the time it takes for squatters to claim ownership of Crown land, and privately owned land.