Landlords beware!
Legal Affairs Minister Peter Taylor is training his guns on you.
This is because Taylor believes many of them are living off the fat of their tenants, fleecing them by arbitrarily raising rents without rhyme or reason. Taylor told the Sunday Guardian yesterday that he intended taking a note to Cabinet, in his capacity as the minister responsible for consumer affairs, seeking resuscitation of the Rent Assessment Board. He said the board was put in abeyance before he was appointed a minister, after winning the Princes Town South/Tableland seat for the PNM in the November 5, 2007, general election. Taylor said the decision by Cabinet to stop the board from functioning preceded his ascension to Government, so he would have to hold discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the need for the board to resume activities.
"Landlords need to be more considerate for the increases that they would charge their tenants, often without justification. It is all about social equity," Taylor said. He added that tenants needed to have an avenue where they could get recourse if they feel they are being forced to pay unfair rent increases. It was economic injustice for landlords to raise rents without improving living conditions for their tenants, the minister stressed. Many tenants are fearful that any hike in property taxes their landlords are called on to pay will be reflected in their rents. Meanwhile, Taylor wants the T&T Manufacturers Association (TTMA) to know he has no quarrel with them and, in fact, has always had a good relationship with its members.
The TTMA issued a news release this week condemning Taylor for his statement during the property tax debate last month in the Lower House that business owners had been paying incorrect property tax and had been living off the fat of the land. In the Lower House on Thursday, Taylor sought to clarify that statement, explaining he had not meant property owners in general, but some members of the business community. That explanation, however, did little to soothe ruffled feathers in the local business community. Reached for comment yesterday, Taylor said he was specifically referring to business owners who had transformed their residential property into commercial property during the last 20 years, but were still paying the residential property tax rate. "It was in that limited context that I was making reference," Taylor declared.
As an example of what he was talking about, he said some Woodbrook homeowners had refurbished their houses to accommodate wine bars and casinos, but were still paying residential tax. He said some homeowners might have added on six rooms to their houses for rental purposes, perhaps as a small guest house, but the relevant reassessment for land and building taxes had not been carried out. Taylor said before he made his contribution to the property tax debate, his staff had researched Port-of-Spain City Corporation statistics, which indicated that some 35 per cent of the burgesses had upgraded their residential properties to commercial status during the last 20 years, but were still paying residential tax. He said he had requested similar information for other corporations, but had not received it before he made his contribution.