A HIGH COURT judge has ordered a woman who began illegally occupying a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) unit in Chaguanas in 2017, living rent-free for almost a decade, to give up possession.
Esther Cruickshank cannot enter or remain in the three-bedroom single-family unit at Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, nor can she continue to make any changes to the unit.
These were the orders of Justice Ricky Rahim who also declared that the HDC was the owner of the unit and was entitled to possession of it.
The HDC filed legal action against Cruickshank for her illegal occupation of the unit. She had alleged she was allocated the unit by a former minister of housing, in 2012. This evidence, the judge said, had not been admitted at trial.
At the time Cruickshank was allegedly allocated the unit, it had already been subleased to another family by the HDC.
In her defence, Cruickshank maintained her occupation of the unit was lawful and filed her own counterclaim for possession and equitable interest in the house.
In evidence at the trial, Cruickshank, after being invited for an interview at the HDC, in 2014, two years after she began occupying the unit, failed to provide certain documents to complete the process for allocation.
In 2018, a year after the HDC realised she was illegally occupying the unit, attempts were made to evict her.
She claimed a political activist got her an appointment with the minister in January 2012, and she was promised assistance.
Cruickshank claimed that during a drive-through of the Edinburgh 500 development to look at vandalised houses, she was given the opportunity to request a particular unit and was allegedly told by the minister he would find out if it could be allocated to her.
She alleged she met with the minister several times, and at one of the meetings, she was told she could occupy the unit she pointed out. She moved in in December 2012 and spent over $200,000 to bring it to a habitable state.
In evidence at the trial, she said she attended an interview at the HDC on November 1, 2014, in which she was told there were no available units at Edinburgh 500 and was offered another development in Chaguanas.
The judge pointed out that the evidence showed she failed to inform the HDC at the interview she was already living in the unit in Edinburgh 500 for two years. After she received a checklist of documents, she had to provide to complete the allocation process, she met with the minister again and one of the HDC’s former managers who told her there was a problem with the unit as the house was owned by people who now appeared to be interested in it. Cruickshank was offered a house in Gasparillo but said she informed the manager she already invested in the house so it would be difficult to move.
Cruickshank claimed she visited the leaseholder for the property who allegedly said she was not interested in the house. She also said she was eventually told the unit was allocated to her and she received a letter for her electricity connection.
Months later, there was a new
