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First Federation tenants owe thousands$$$ in arrears
… have no rental agreement
More than half of the 31 tenants of the government-owned First Federation Building on Croal Street have no rental agreements with over $1.1M in arrears owed.
Some 14 of the tenants had rental agreements that expired since 1991.
About 21 years later, the tenants including lawyers, auto sales company, a salon and Justice of Peace, are paying what government officials have said is a mere pittance when compared to what
Tenants of the First Federation Building owe over $1M in rent to government and have no legal agreement, the state auditors have found.
market prices in the city are going for.
First Federation losing its majesty now is located south of the High Court in Georgetown.
Earlier this week, the 2011 Report of the Auditor General was released in Parliament and it addressed the issue of the First Federation Building which over the years has fallen to disrepair.
Earlier this year, the government had issued removal notices effective October 1, but the tenants had reportedly moved to the courts.
According to state auditors, probing the affairs of the building, which falls under the Ministry of Legal Affairs, there were 31 tenants occupying the building who should have entered into tenancy agreement since last year.
However, 17 of them had no tenancy agreements and 14 had agreements which had expired since 1991.
“Although notices were sent to the defaulting tenants for outstanding rent, only $390,000 was collected and at the time of reporting, there was also evidence that rent was in arrears totaling $1.161M for the period under review. The sum of $917,000 remained outstanding for the previous period.
Responding to questions, the Head of the Budget Agency said that default letters dated May 14th, 2012 were written to the occupants to have them liquidate “their indebtedness for license fees owed for their occupancy of the rooms in the building.
“As a result, some persons came forward and made payments. From May 14, 2012 to date, approximately, $580,000 was repaid.”
The Audit Office urged that the Ministry follow the proposal of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and prepare new contracts with “realistic tenancy rates for the occupants of the building and take legal action against defaulting tenants”.
Government had disclosed plans to rebuild another structure which will house a number of critical offices in the judicial system including several registries.
These include the Land, Deeds and Corporate, among other departments.
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