The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has upheld the rights of a man to occupy a piece of land he has been using for over 12 years in Dominica against the injunction of the original owner who has a certificate of title conferred by Title by Registration Act (TRA) in 1995. Albert Guye is the original landowner, but David George has been occupying and using a portion of the land for nearly 15 years.
Guye wanted to eject George from his land, but the latter said he cannot move because his long years of occupancy entitled him to the use of the land. The High Court and the Court of Appeal in Dominica disagreed with George, and said there is no way he could challenge the certificate of title which conferred ownership on Guye since he (George) has not fulfilled the procedural steps stipulated in Section 33 of the TRA.
But the CCJ set aside the earlier decision of the High Court and Court of Appeal in Dominica, saying George has a case against Guye. The CCJ President, Justice Adrian Saunders, in a majority decision of the court ruled that the Certificate of Title in Dominica is not absolute and that there are two exceptions to its rights under the TRA. One of the exceptions applies to where the title of the landowner is superseded by another title obtained under the RPLA.
The RPLA confers some “squatter’s rights” on an individual who has been occupying a land for over 12 years. The court interpreted the RPLA as stating that applicable laws bar a titled landowner from ejecting or bringing legal action against a tenant or squatter who has occupied the land for over 12 years. The judges agreed that this interpretation is consistent with several similar cases brought to the court from Dominica.
In the minority opinion, Justice Anderson and Justice Burgess said there are situations in which the title of the original landowner can be set aside or superseded by another. They said the TRA was introduced to offer security and stability of title as well as override a former squatter’s rights where a conflict exists between the two legislations. To this extent, the certificate of title can only be challenged by an occupier of over 12 years where he has fulfilled the provisions of Section 33 in the TRA.
However, by majority decision, George won the case for his occupancy of Guye’s land in Dominica.
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