By Alric Lindsay
Several persons appeared in Court recently for failure to comply with planning enforcement notices or stop notices. In these cases, they may face fines of $5,000 if convicted and $1,000 per day while the non-compliance issues remain. Where there is continued non-compliance, it has been noted in Court that this is sometimes not due to intentional non-compliance by the landowner. Instead, the landowner demonstrated that efforts were made to comply, but a professional service provider assisting the landowner faced challenges to resolve issues. This sometimes leads to continued non-compliance, which was the case for a woman who appeared in Summary Court yesterday, October 15, 2024.
Explaining the reasons for her delay in complying with an enforcement notice, the lady said that she called her architect and asked him for an update on submitting documents to the planning department. Reportedly, she was told that “something” was submitted to planning, and the architect said he was “working on it.”
In the circumstances, Magistrate Hernandez reminded the woman that it is her responsibility to follow up with her architect to ensure that the non-compliance issue is resolved. In the meantime, she would be “potentially incurring substantial penalties” daily.
Magistrate Hernandez added:
You are in a position which is not a good one and you are almost being held ransom by him.
When you leave court today, you can let him know that he has put you in a very awkward position with the court.
Magistrate Hernandez emphasized that when the matter is mentioned again later this month, the woman would need to come to Court with “some proof that something else has been submitted and fees have been paid.”
The situation highlights challenges faced by some landowners who endeavour to comply with enforcement notices but continue to face daily fines, reportedly due to slow action by third parties. Landowners in these situations are encouraged to frequently follow up in writing with their architects or other service providers. Otherwise, they may have nothing to demonstrate to the Court that they are making progress in curing non-compliance issues.
