Government Proposes Fees for Overgrown Lot Nuisances Under Health Services Amendment Bill 2024

The days of the Government clearing overgrown lots for free is ending and with it offending owners/occupiers will be charged $300 for creating the nuisance and $10 a day for every day it remains not cleared.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Dale Marshall took to Parliament this week an amendment to the Health Services Bill to have overgrown lots dealt with, without the intervention of a court case.

The owners/occupiers will be given up to 21 days to clean the area after which the $300 citation will be imposed and then the daily charges on the commercial or residential lots.

He explained that as a last resort the Government agencies will clean lots but that clearance charge will be added to the land tax for the particular location.

There will be a relief board to which persons can appeal, for example those whose properties are used by others as a dumping ground or the elderly or the incapacitated without the means to get the problem rectified.

Further debate on the Health Services (Amendment) Bill 2024 was suspended after four Members of Parliament spoke and it was referred to the Select Standing Committee for further consideration. Marshall said that was so Barbadians could have a say on the matter which had been pending for a while.

He said the Health Services nuisance regulation came into existence in 1969 along others, and was intended to direct Barbadians on how operate so society could be enjoyed by all.

“… But there still are individuals for whom dumping … whether it is coconut shells, cans, bottles, is par for the course. There are individuals who pay no regard to the condition of their property whether it is occupied or not,” he stated.

He said there were some issues in relation to the laws which needed to be modernised as in the past people were “dragged” before the court and criminalised for administrative breaches which they never had the intention of committing.

There were also low fines which were sensible then but not now and under the law, government could clear the dangerous state of the property and after 42 days auction it to recover its expense.

“That has the potential to be a most draconian remedy. We needed to find another mechanism to allow the state where necessary to do the clean up and recover the funds. This amendment brings that to the table,” said Marshall, while pointing the cost of cleaning may be a modest amount, making the action most inappropriate.

The latest amendment is not the state wanting to take on the burden of cleaning up land but as a last resort – not for the owners – but for the safety and promotion of the health of the community, Marshall told the House.

“The state will step in as a last resort. The obligation is for the property owner or occupier to clean up your land. Get that straight! That is why there is a penalty that is going to be imposed, that is why there is a daily penalty that is going to be added,” he stated.

In this case the Ministry of Finance had been consulted for its agent to deal with the Barbados Revenue Authority.

“It becomes a charge on your land and it is recoverable in the same way that land tax is going to be recovered. We feel that this is a much fairer system,” he stated.

He said the law would also bind the state to so that there will not be one law for the people and one for the state.

“The state will not be imposing administrative penalty on itself as it doesn’t get a land tax bill so there are practical matters to accept. . .

The state is accepting it will take on board the burden, the same burden it is asking other Barbadians to take on,” he said.

Marshall also pointed out that there are a host of breaches in Barbados’ laws and which the government is not prepare to follow the old tradition of making criminals out of people.