Today Newspaper St. Maarten

St.maarten – The Sea Breeze Hotel in Little Bay is not allowed to close off the room Lydia Henderson rents there, the Court in first Instance ruled in summary proceedings. At the same time, the court noted that Henderson and her landlord Louis Fortuna are “at the end of the line” because they are constantly irritating each other. From that perspective, the court ruled, it makes sense for Henderson to look for alternative accommodation.

Henderson went to court to demand a ban on closing off her room, to order the hotel to reconnect her air conditioning and to order the hotel to pay her $63.

While the court found that it cannot convincingly establish that Fortuna barred Henderson from her room, it granted the tenant’s demand, because the hotel, as the landlord, has an obligation to admit her to her room.

The court rejected the demand to reconnect the air conditioning, because Henderson did not prove that there was an agreement with the hotel about this facility. Sea Breeze says that it charges a higher tariff for rooms with air conditioning.

The court rejected the demand for the payment of $63, “because it does not deal with trifles.”

Sea Breeze had demanded that the court dissolve the lease agreement with Henderson, but the court rejected this as well. The hotel can terminate the contract once it has permission from the rent committee, the court ruling states.

The court was lenient and interpreted the hotel’s demand also as a request for an eviction order. That did not fly either, because Henderson is paying her rent on time and the position that the tenant misbehaves on the premises has been insufficiently motivated.

The court forbids Sea Breeze to close off the room, under threat of a $500 penalty for each day that the hotel violates this order.

Sea Breeze hotel loses court case against tenant by admin