Landlord charged with poor upkeep of property

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Jody Farrington appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt on Tuesday, facing charges related to the poor environmental upkeep of her rental property in Montell Heights.

According to court dockets, Farrington’s tenants have been using outside toilets without proper plumbing.

A health inspector visited the property after a complaint was made and discovered that garbage, debris and faeces was being burnt on the property.

Farrington was given until November 8 to rectify the issue, but even after the inspectors revisited the property on November 10, 2018, they claimed that nothing had changed.

Farrington was charged with unsanitary conditions, unsanitary premises and inadequate water supply.

She told Chief Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt that she had an issue with her water and tenants had to fill buckets at the water pump in order to flush the outside toilets, which resulted in the overflow of faecal matter.

Farrington pleaded guilty to all charges but was not penalized right away as Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt claimed that even the highest penalty was not sufficient for the health dangers Farrington’s mistakes could have caused, not only for her tenants, but also the community.

The highest Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt was able to fine Farrington was $1,000 for the unsanitary conditions and premises, $30 for the inadequate water supply and an extra $15 dollars for each additional day it went unresolved.

According to a representative from the Department of Environmental Health, Dahl Bethel, who served as the inspector in the above-mentioned case, these penalties were implemented back in the 1980s and have not been revisited since. He added that although this was the first environmental case heard since 2013, the health department is working on an initiative to create a sustainable environmental court system to bring forth cases every month.

He also revealed that this month, 27 cases are expected to be heard.

About Ginelle Longley

Ginelle Longley is a broadcast reporter and occasional TV news anchor with Eyewitness News, also serving as the station’s evening radio news anchor for 103.5 The Beat. She has reported on news beats including government, politics, crime, human interest, business and even sports. In 2018, she was nominated for the Bahamas Press Club’s “Student Media Journalism Award”.