15 properties, including hotels, going to the highest bidder on Thursday
Fifteen properties are set to be sold to the highest bidders by the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) on Thursday.
That’s 14 fewer than were originally to be auctioned off, based on previous information provided by the statutory corporation earlier this month.
Section 34 of the Land Tax Act, allows the Revenue Commissioner to order the sale of properties by public auction in relation to land tax debt.
Three hotels in Christ Church are among the several properties which will be auctioned off starting at 9:30 a.m at the Seminar Room of Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, St Michael.
On the list are Regency Cove Hotel at Hastings, owned by Royal Caribbean Hotel Limited, the dilapidated and unoccupied Oasis Apartment Hotel at Worthing, owned by His Magestys Inc., and Fairholmes Hotel at Maxwell, owned by Fairholme Hotel Limited. The latter two were also on the auction block in 2022.
A resident of Regency Cove Hotel for the past five years said given this information, he was looking for a place to rent. However, he said no officials from the hotel had approached him about the property being sold.
“I’m looking for a room. I don’t have any place to go. No one has told us anything officially about an auction but that talk has been circulating,” he said yesterday.
Several properties named on the original list of 29 to have been auctioned off, are not on the updated list.
BRA revealed earlier they were auctioning off the properties in an attempt to collect more than $20 million owed to them for more than ten years.
Revenue Commissioner Louisa Lewis-Ward had previously urged property owners who owed land tax to address their arrears or ensure they communicated with BRA to avoid their properties going on a Notice of Sale list.
“We know that the COVID-19 pandemic still has lingering impacts on our economy, affecting households and businesses. Our aim is not to take land or property from anyone. The auctions are a last resort. However, in addition to the annual tax demand notices, we sent correspondence detailing land tax arrears to property owners to ensure they know their amounts owed and the payment plans available,” she said.
Lewis-Ward implored people having challenges with bringing their land tax accounts up to date, whether financial or otherwise, to reach out to BRA to make arrangements to avoid losing their properties.
In June 2023, BRA raked in more than $4 million from the sale of nine properties by auction. It had originally put up about 40 properties, but arrangements were made to settle the arrears on the rest. The figure was close to $300 million in arrears at the time. (BA)
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