By ANNELIA NIXON

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association, Carla Sweeting, says that BREA has a neutral stance on homeowner association rules and restrictions, after criticisms in a letter to The Tribune.

Mrs Sweeting said she believes the letter to the editor, published in yesterday's Tribune, was written due to a recent interview she’d been a part of on a podcast on August 14. Mrs Sweeting was asked her view on vacation rental homes and how they impact long-term rental homes. She said she believes the writer based their submission on her response. The writer criticised both BREA and Mrs Sweeting.

“BREA president seems to want to support the minority folk who get on Condo Associations and weld almighty to suit themselves not for the interest of all condo owners,” the writer said. “They went on to mention conveyance, writing, “Just how can the Condo Association override covenants of the original purchase?”

Mrs Sweeting explained to Tribune Business how a real estate transaction works. She said when purchasing a property, an attorney will conduct a title search to ensure the “root of the title is good” to avoid the purchaser from inheriting debt that does not belong to them. She said the attorney may ask the purchaser if they are aware of the HOA’s restrictions and rules. She said the next step involves a conveyance being drawn. 

“Then a conveyance is drawn and the conveyance will, in layman's terms, will be that Mr Seller agrees to sell to you his condo, number so and so in whatever complex,” she said. “Then you sign it and agree. It’s strictly the legal description of the property that you are buying. That can be a condo, that can be a house, that can be a vacant lot. So that person is totally wrong when it says homeowners association cannot change the covenants of your conveyance. I don't care to comment on the conveyance part of it because that's the legal side of it.”

Mrs Sweeting said she told the interviewer that vacation rental homes are very popular at the moment and an extremely saturated market. She said this in turn has made it difficult for Bahamians and foreigners to find long-term rentals.

“There was no indication or hint of anything that me representing BREA is agreeing with a homeowner changing its covenants. I used an example. I said  one of the larger communities - gated communities - in the cable beach area, they did vacation rentals but their home owners association voted and agreed that they would no longer be doing vacation rentals. They have every right  to do that if their homeowners association allows them to do that and yes, it doesn't have to  be that every single person agrees with that ruling but the majority wins, like in every organisation. You're never going to please everybody. ”

The letter writer, K Albury, also suggested that the government put in place a Condo Association Restrictive Practice Act which they said would “safeguard the condo buyer from the whims of unusual minority ‘power group who get control of the Condo Association and impose conditions not on a unanimous approach where all owners agree…”

Mrs Sweeting said that HOA is like a business, and it would be difficult for the government to tell them how to run their business, especially if they are acting legally. The writer made mention of VAT and BREA wanting to control the market. Mrs Sweeting said she did not understand what the writer was trying to say.

“What in the world does that even mean?” she asked. “I read that over and over. I can’t figure that out. That makes no sense. If you are an owner of a unit, in a complex that allows vacation rentals, you're supposed to be paying VAT on your rental income. Again, BREA agents don't get involved in that. That’s not for us to do. I don’t understand what that means.”

She defined and outlined BREA’s role in real estate for the public to understand. 

“We are the regulatory body,” she said. “We are the regulators for the practice of real estate in The Bahamas. We are responsible for all of the members who hold a BREA licence or sell and engage in any kind of real estate practice. That is what we are. We don’t control homeowner associations, we don’t control what a complex can and cannot do. We abide by whatever they are.”