Condominium

• Pages: 104-114

DOI: 10.4324/9781003186946-7

Unlike in North America and elsewhere, condominium development in the Carib-

bean has not been brought about by the pressures of land shortages in the metropol-

itan areas or the desire for city living, but rather by the needs of the tourism industry.

Thus, condominium structures in the Caribbean tend not to be high-

rise, multi-

storey edifices used by local residents as their only or principal home, but relatively

small two-

or three-

storey buildings sited near the sea and used by vacationing for-

eign residents. The condominium concept is intended to incorporate the economic

advantages of co- operative apartment living with the economic and psychological

advantages of home ownership, but, in the Caribbean, these aims are perhaps less

important than the desire to enjoy or benefit from holiday accommodation in an

idyllic location. In addition, condominium development in the Caribbean is often

commercial– utilised by small businesses, such as beauty salons, boutiques and sou-

venir shops in resort areas.

CONDOMINIUM LEGISLATION

Although several Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions have introduced condo-

minium legislation,1 only the Bahamian Act has attracted significant case law. The

account in this chapter will, therefore, focus primarily on the Law of Property and

Conveyancing (Condominium) Act, Ch 139,2 of The Bahamas, and the similarly

drafted Condominium Act, Cap 224A, of Barbados. Both Acts are based substan-

tially on the Model Act prepared in 1961 by the American Federal Housing Admin-

istration (FHA), which has been the model for much of the condominium legislation

in the USA and Canada.

NATURE OF THE INTEREST OF THE UNIT OWNER

In Bank of Nova Scotia v GLT Corporation Ltd,3 Smith J explained the genesis of the

condominium concept in The Bahamas:

Up until the coming into operation of the Law of Property and Conveyancing (Con-

dominium) Act 1965, there was no provision in our law for the horizontal division-

up

of the fee simple estate in land. In other words, the fee simple estate in a part of a

second or other storey of a building could not be in a totally dierent ownership than

that of the ground floor of the same building. The Act was passed to make provision

for the ownership in fee simple of units in multi- unit buildings, thus providing for

horizontal division of a fee simple.

1 See, eg, Cap 60 (Grenada); Condominium Act 1986 (Bermuda); Registration (Strata Titles) Act

1973 Rev ( Jamaica); Cap 227 (StVincent).

2 Statute Law of the Bahamas, 2000.

3 (1986) Supreme Court, The Bahamas, No 112 of 1982.

CHAPTER 7

CONDOMINIUM