By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Western Air’s top executive has successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to appoint an administrator for one of Freeport’s most prominent condominium complexes.

Justice Constance Delancy, in an August 7, 2025, verdict found that Harcourt Development (Bahamas), the Irish-headquartered property giant that also owns the dilapidated Royal Oasis resort, has violated the Law of Property and Conveyancing (Condominium) Act by failing to keep Suffolk Court insured, “in good repair” and to provide the unit owners with properly audited accounts.

As a result, she backed the legal claim initiated by Sherrexcia ‘Rexy’ Rolle, the president and chief executive of Western Air who owns two units in Suffolk Court, and appointed John Bain, the Bahamian forensic accountant, as administrator for the condominium complex for the next two years.

The parties involved were tight-lipped yesterday on the ruling and its implications, which will see Mr Bain - acting as an officer of the Supreme Court - take over Suffolk Court’s management, operations and governance from Harcourt Development for the next 24 months. He will also provide bi-annual reports to unit owners on his activities and the condo complex’s financial condition.

Ms Rolle did not reply to a Tribune Business e-mail sent to her work address before press time last night, while Dawson Malone, the Callenders & Company attorney and partner who represented her and secured the administrator’s appointment, was said to be off-island.

Mr Bain, when contacted, said he had not been formally informed of Justice Delancy’s verdict and his appointment, and was now awaiting instructions. Kirk Antoni, the Bahamian attorney for Harcourt Development (Bahamas), declined to comment and said any response would have to come from his client.

However, Justice Delancy ruled that the Irish-headquartered developer had failed to properly remedy Suffolk Court’s multiple defects and deterioration in the four years since Ms Rolle launched her legal action on September 3, 2021.

The Western Air chief had alleged Harcourt Development (Bahamas) was in breach of the Law of Property and Conveyancing (Condominium) Act’s sections 14 and 17, which impose a mandatory obligation on the developer/manager to keep a condo complex fully insured against events such as hurricanes, in a “state of good and serviceable repair”, and to provide “duly audited” accounts annually.

Ms Rolle, alleging that Suffolk Court’s declaration of condominium was made on February 20, 2009, and recorded in the Registry of Records, also asserted that Harcourt Development (Bahamas) “reserved the right to fully constitute the Board of the Condominium until the sale of the last unit in the condominium”.

She added that there was “no evidence” that Harcourt Development (Bahamas) had appointed an entity named Suffolk Court Company to manage the complex as stated in the declaration. And Ms Rolle had “expressed concern with the state of the complex”, citing multiple deficiencies and flaws needing repair that were undermining the quality of life for herself and other residents.

Apart from “sub-par” maintenance and a lack of cleanliness, the Western Air chief executive listed the “disrepair of elevators”; “lack of operable stairwell lighting”; “birds living in the roof and visible nests”; water leaks in one of her units that “persisted for nine months” and damaged the hallway and ceiling; and a lack of repairs to the complex’s exterior post-Hurricane Dorian.

Ms Rolle also complained that Suffolk Court’s “dock slip is inoperable”, and that in the absence of a water storage tank “when there is no power coupled with the generator being inoperable there is no water to the units’. Harcourt Development (Bahamas), in reply, pledged that repairs were conducted.

However, Justice Delancy appeared to back many of Ms Rolle’s complaints when she visited Suffolk Court herself on April 10, 2025 - the day of the trial. Her record of the visit stated: “All complaints of damage are pre-Hurricane Dorian. Inoperable elevators, lack of maintenance to the exterior - paint chipping, shutters missing/falling off, missing façade.

“No dock repairs; roof itself is compromised, No exterior lights. Cracked tile on along balcony areas. Sherrexcia Rolle noted the substantial crack in the side wall of Abaco building. General manager noted that it was durock, but taken down to concrete and re-plastered.

“Gazebo by dock requires repair. The elevator was down in the Abaco building for two weeks and intermittently.. Issues to the ceiling in the claimant’s unit. There were birds’ fecal matter, water and uneven steps in stairway,” Justice Delancy wrote.

“Court asked whether there were known issues of mold. Mr Lee, the property manager, stated no. However, the court notes that there was mildew on building exterior, and in the claimant’s condo unit, with obvious signs of water intrusion. That there was water damage at base of the doors. Property manager states that it is deterioration, and that there were no gutters for the rain run-off.”

An affidavit sworn by Donald Archer, Harcourt Development (Bahamas) most senior executive, was discarded by Justice Delancy because he was “not made available” to give evidence at the trial. Mr Malone, on Ms Rolle’s behalf, argued that the developer’s “inability to comply with the Act was demonstrated over a number of years”.

He asserted that “substantial misconduct and mismanagement with relation to the condominium was established”, and Justice Delancy found that Harcourt Development (Bahamas) and Suffolk Court Condominium - Phase One Association, the latter being the complex’s “body corporate”, are responsible for fulfilling the maintenance, insurance and audit duties stipulated by the Act.

Finding that they have breached the law, the judge ruled: “Their failure to adequately keep the condominium in good repair, keep the property insured and provide audited accounts has not been remedied at any point from the filing of the action to the date of trial, some four years’ difference.

“The court hereby declares that the defendants are in breach of sections 14 and 17 of the Act and appoints John S. Bain as administrator of Suffolk Court for the period of 24 months from the date of this judgement. Such period may be extended with leave of the Court. The administrator shall prepare and file bi-annual reports which are to be to made available to the unit owners.”

Suffolk Court consists of two high-rise apartment buildings located in close proximity to the Xanadu hotel property. Tribune Business efforts to determine the number of units in the complex proved unsuccessful yesterday, although one source suggested there are about 60.

The administrator’s appointment has occurred amid suggestions that Harcourt is preparing to exit its Grand Bahama investments. The Government has again budgeted $1m during the 2025-2026 fiscal year for the acquisition of the Royal Oasis, which has now been shuttered for almost 21 years, while other real estate assets may be part of Royal Caribbean’s impending Xanadu purchase.