QUESTION: Dear Legal wiz,

Please help me rid of squatters forever and  manage  my  Jamaican  property?

I seek your assistance in helping    me to get rid of squatters  on property belonging to me. The occupants of the property are not tenants. The property is located in Ensom City, Spanish Town.  I would need someone to serve them eviction notice and do the legwork until their stuff is removed from the premises.  They are not paying any rent and are not on any lease agreement, so may not want to give up their free living arrangement.

So worse case, they may want to  wait out the situation to go to court to give them some more  free rent time.

 Could you  tell me if you have handled this type of situation and if  you do, how long it may take for me to take possession of  the property to move in, worst case if they do not willingly  move their stuff out  of my house when you  first contact them?

Anjie Josephs

RESPONSE: Dear Angie,

We have handled this type of situation before and references can be sent to you.

The first step with the notice usually takes five weeks for the notice to be served and expired. Court proceedings cannot be started on anyone’s behalf without an appropriate power of attorney document. This POA needs to be notarized and accompanied by a certificate of notarial authority for it to be stamped and registered in Jamaica to empower the person acting on your behalf to carry out proceedings in Court.

The court proceedings which involve at least three main stages can be from one month to a year with repeated appearances in Court for any number of reasons.

Once the order is made, there are a few more actions to take. It’s not a guarantee that the Court will give them extension of time, especially if they refuse to pay any sums.

Managing the property involves a contract between you and the team member who will assist you.

The fees can be emailed to you. Certain stages may require upfront payment before its done such as preparation of a power of attorney document.

Legal Wiz