Update: Two Men Apprehended in Estella Roberts Murder Case

Condensed from the Cayman Net News, and the Cay Compass

Thursday 30th October, 2008

Two men accused of killing Cable and Wireless communications manager Estella Scott–Roberts, appeared in Summary Court Thursday facing numerous charges including murder, abduction and robbery. One of the suspects, 27–year–old Kirkland Henry, was charged with an additional count of rape in connection with Mrs. Scott–Roberts’ murder. Kirkland Henry worked as a gardener and lived in George Town . The other murder suspect, 25–year–old Larry Prinston Ricketts, worked as a carpenter and also lived in George Town.

Solicitor General Cheryll Richards told the court that police obtained detailed statements from both men admitting to the allegations during police questioning. As well, they were both in possession of two of Mrs. Scott–Roberts’ cell phones; one found on each man. She said there was also forensic evidence connecting Kirkland Henry to the deceased. Mrs. Richards recommended that both men be remanded in custody on the charges. Mrs. Richards stressed that “these are serious charges against them", and Magistrate Margaret Ramsay–Hale agreed, stating “charges of this nature…by two foreigners, there is no doubt they are a flight risk,”.

The men were interviewed at length by police prior to Thursday’s court appearance, and neither had retained Counsel by the time of the proceeding. Both of the accused were remanded into custody and are to appear before the court again on November 6th, 2008.

Owning a Timeshare in Grand Cayman

A relatively new concept to become popular in the Cayman Islands, timeshare ownership is now available at several existing resorts in the Cayman Islands. The timeshare concept of ownership has long been popular in the United States and the enthusiasm for this flexible, variable type of condominium ownership is becoming increasingly popular in a modern real estate market where buyers have a thirst for easy maintenance property ownership and the flexibility to exchange (for example) their timeshare at a ski resort property for a island condominium in the Cayman Islands, and vice versa. Timeshare offers many people the chance for an ownership interest in a beautiful five star resort that may have been cost-prohibitive to buy outright, particularly if the owner only intends to use the condominium a few weeks per year.

Major hotel chains worldwide, including Marriott and Wyndham worldwide are embracing the timeshare concept and putting their flag on many timeshare resorts, making the timeshare concept more attractive than ever to purchasers who are brand conscious. Even the Ritz-Carlton offers a type of ownership that is based on the timeshare concept, where owners have a right to use their condominium for only a certain fixed period of weeks and the rest of the time the condominium is managed by the hotel and generates income for the owner.

However easy it may be to use your timeshare once acquired, in reality the legalities and terminology of the timeshare industry can be confusing and I hope that this article will help readers wade through the flood of information that is available about timeshares and get to the essence of what timeshare is, as understanding timeshare will open a world of benefits to purchasers that traditional property purchases cannot offer.

I. Types of Timeshare

Timeshare, which is also commonly known and referred to as vacation ownership or interval ownership, essentially means ownership of the rights to use a particular property a certain amount of time per year together with other owners. Traditionally sold in units of one week, fifty-one owners will "buy" a condominium and share the time to use it depending on which weeks they purchase. One week of each year is usually held back by the developer for maintenance and is not sold. The weeks that are sold can be fixed or floating weeks (discussed below).

There are essentially four types of timeshare programs: deeded ownership, right-to-use/leasehold, points clubs and club/trust structures. Deeded ownership involves receiving an actual title deed for your timeshare interest and is primarily available in the United States. As deeded ownership is not available in the Cayman Islands, this article will cover the three types of timeshare programs that are possible in the Cayman Islands, as well as an overview of a few important timeshare concepts.

a. Right-to-Use/Leasehold/Fractionals

The most common form of timeshare program in the Cayman Islands is a right-to-use a week, or a block of weeks (called a fraction), of a resort club or membership company, backed by a long term lease of the resort property from the developer to the club or membership company of anywhere from 50 – 999 years. The lease is registered on the title of the resort and should contain protections for the club/membership company from the sale, transfer, assignment or foreclosure of the resort property by the developer for the duration of the lease.

The interest of the purchaser in a right-to-use program is essentially a contractual interest, a right to use the property, rather than an actual property interest but this holds several advantages for the purchaser. First, and most importantly, the purchaser does not have to pay stamp duty on their purchase as is the case with purchasing property and taking title, which would currently attract a stamp duty of 7.5% in the Seven Mile Beach area. Second, the purchaser receives significant savings in purchasing only the weeks that they want to use the property considering that in exchange for a fairly reasonable investment and no stamp duty costs, the purchaser receives the yearly use of a beautiful five star condominium, usually on the beach which if purchased outright would cost millions of dollars in the most prime locations. Third, with most resorts belonging to an exchange program (see below) the purchaser has the advantage of exchanging their weeks in other exotic locations.

Right-to-use timeshares are usually structured very carefully in order to ensure that the purchasers are given binding contracts that guarantee the right to use the timeshare. Right-to-use timeshares are comprised of several detailed binding contracts which will endure for a long period of time. Purchaser’s counsel will be able to ensure that all the protections available to the developer have been undertaken and put into place. Whereas when purchasing property freehold a purchaser actually takes title, with timeshare in the Cayman Islands there is no registry of timeshare interests or means of registering title to timeshares so the contractual documents underlying a timeshare purchase are of utmost importance.

b. Points

Some timeshare resorts sell points instead of weeks where purchasers receive a certain number of points that represent a particular size of unit and week at a certain resort. Timeshares at older resorts get you less points than newer resorts. A week in high season will cost more and give you more points than a week in low season. Those points can then be used through the internal exchange of the company in which you purchased or through the company’s international exchange program, if it has one. The main advantage of a points system is flexibility, you can use your points for shorter vacations of two or three days rather than being confined to a week. Some systems also allow you to purchase airfare and cruises with your points. The main disadvantage is that your points are easily de-valued and susceptible to inflation in subsequent years and once new resorts within a company are built that require more points for usage. There is no guarantee in a points system that you will be able to use a particular week in particular unit every year as it works on a first-come, first-served basis.

c. Club/Trust/Company Membership

A few timeshare programs in Cayman are based on the most common form of timeshare ownership in the United Kingdom where members belong to a Club and their timeshare unit and the resort are held by Trustees or a Company who then grant right-to-use licences to members. This type of ownership is legally complicated and difficult to explain to United States timeshare purchasers who are not used to the concept. However, it is becoming popular world-wide as it does have several built-in mechanisms for protecting members. Trustees could be a bank, a trust company or a group of individuals who hold the timeshare resort ‘in trust’ on behalf of the owners. Trustees provide security for owners in the event that a developer fails financially. Some trustees may have added responsibilities such as ensuring the continuity of the Club.

II. Protecting Timeshare Owners

As discussed in Part I, although the timeshare purchaser in Cayman does not receive a registered property interest, a good timeshare developer has other means of offering protections for timeshare owners in the event that the developer goes bankrupt, the resort is sold, or the developer’s financier forecloses on the resort. For example, great protection for timeshare owners can be structured in a long term registered lease between the developer/owner of the resort and the resort manager whereby any subsequent purchaser of the underlying freehold timeshare property would have to purchase the resort subject to the long-term lease of the membership/management company. The lease should contain provisions that stipulate that the rights of members should not be disturbed if the developer/owner sells the resort or transfers the lease of the resort property, or where the lease is terminated. Clauses should also be included which stipulate that timeshare members receive their proportionate share of insurance proceeds and (in certain cases) their share of proceeds of the sale of the resort property should the resort be destroyed in a hurricane and a decision taken not to rebuild.

Where the developer/owner receives financing for the development of the resort and is required to give its financier a charge over the resort property, it is of utmost importance that the charge contains a "non-disturbance clause" whereby the financier expressly agrees to not disturb the rights of the timeshare owners in the event of foreclosure of the resort property.

These protections are crucial in ensuring that timeshare owners are protected from situations where developers sell the timeshare resort without the consent or knowledge of the timeshare owners, and without adequate compensation, as happened in Cayman with one resort following Hurricane Ivan.

III. Private Residence Clubs

The crème de la crème of timeshare, private residence clubs (PRCs) are becoming popular in Grand Cayman, with projects like the Waterford Private Residence Club and the Residences at Beach Bay leading the way. These exclusive clubs offer country-club type benefits including luxurious accommodation and facilities, as well as exclusive services designed to make your stay as effortless as possible for you, including the use of luxury vehicles during your stay, boat & captain service, stocking your fridge with your choice of groceries, and the list goes on. These clubs and the special privileges that come with ownership are extremely attractive to certain purchasers who are looking for the exclusivity of high end properties without the management and strata plan headaches that sometimes come with owning their own condominium.

Private Residence Clubs are usually sold as fractions, which is a type of right-to use a block of time per year, for example, six weeks, which can be taken all at one time, or spread out throughout the year. Membership is usually governed by Rules and Regulations, Reservation Policies & Procedures and a membership agreement. The terms of the documents are often similar to the by-laws of a strata corporation but also have elements of hotel rules incorporated to address reservation procedures for reserving your weeks, for allowing guests to use your weeks and for re-scheduling.

Club dues, similar to strata plan fees, are paid, as with most timeshares, and the dues cover your proportionate share of the overall expenses of maintaining the timeshare resort. Most timeshares also have provisions for special assessments that might become necessary, after a hurricane (to cover a policy deductible), or to cover a major expenditure such as roof replacement. As there are so many owners, the club dues and special assessment charges are usually less than what you would pay for a comparable quality strata plan condominium.

IV. Fixed and Floating Weeks

A fixed week is a week purchased at your timeshare resort that is for a specific unit and a specific week every year. A floating week is sold within a specific time period or season for a particular size or type of unit but is not for the same particular unit every year. While the floating weeks give you flexibility they are usually offered on a first come first served basis although some resorts do offer floating week members a rotation system to ensure that they all have the opportunity to reserve a high season week on a regular basis.

V. Exchange Programs

Most timeshare resorts belong to one of two international exchange programs, either RCI (Resort Condominiums International) or Interval International. Exchange programs are part of what makes timeshare so attractive. These are the programs that enable owners to exchange their week for a week in another resort in another state, province or country. In order for timeshare resorts to be accepted as members into one of these premier exchange programs the resort must meet certain criteria for acceptance. Membership in either RCI or Interval International is one of the criteria purchasers should look for in deciding whether to purchase a timeshare at a particular resort.

VI. Timeshare and Tourism

Timeshares are not only great investments for purchasers, they are great for tourism, they bring high volume of tourists from all over the world on a consistent basis year after year. Timeshare resorts enjoy some of the highest and most consistent occupancy rates in the Cayman Islands. As few resorts here are truly all-inclusive in the sense that timeshare owners never leave the resort, most of those tourists spend money in the local economy by seeing local attractions, trying new restaurants and purchasing goods. Many families pass their weeks onto their children and the children keep up the tradition. Even owners who regularly trade in their weeks every year still help tourism, as new tourists who own timeshares elsewhere will come to the Cayman Islands and hopefully, fall in love with it and buy their own week. Understanding timeshare will bring benefits not only to purchasers personal investments, but also to the Cayman Islands as a tourism destination.

Magda Embury is the Head of the Property & Finance Department at law firm Solomon Harris and has developed a specialty in timeshare law, and advises local as well as international timeshare resort developers.

The Cayman "Rollover" policy...Expat's forced out out after 7 years

Instituted in 2004:

Under this policy, an ex-patriate can come to Cayman to work on a two year permit and have his permit renewed twice (two more two year permits). The third renewal would not be allowed simply because it would put the ex-patriate past the seven year limit. It doesn’t mean that a company cannot get out a work permit for another ex-patriate, just not for the same ex-patriate.

There is no doubt that the seven-year rollover immigration policy is the most unpopular policy that any Cayman Islands Government Administration has ever had to defend. From the Cayman Contractors Association, and the Cayman Islands Tourist Association to Human Resource professionals and businesses, from every sector in general, as well as from Caymanians this derided policy has been criticized every which way. However, is appears that this current administration is bent on keeping the policy in place even though reportedly even some of their most stalwart fans and party members are themselves critical of the implications of the policy on their own households and businesses.

Members and supporters of the People's Progressive Movement, (PPM) employ people in both business and in their homes. They send their children to school, they visit shops and they use the hospital and are therefore fully aware of the implications of this insidious section of the immigration law. The rollover policy will reduce the period work permit holders must leave for to six months. Currently the seven-year rollover immigration policy forces those who have already served seven years here on work permits to leave the Islands after their final permit has expired, for a period of no less than two years.

Reducing that period to six months will no doubt make a difference to one or two people, but for the majority, especially those working in the service sector across the board, including the lower income positions, such a figure is meaningless. If someone is forced to leave their home, be it for six months or two years, they must do exactly that and therefore need to establish a new home and above all take a new position somewhere else. Once an individual who has worked and created a life here for the last seven-years or more is forced to leave this home and take another job elsewhere, then it is logical they will seek to re-settle and establish a new home in the new jurisdiction in which they are employed. Under such circumstances all but the very rich will not be in a position after six months to simply return here at whim. But alas only to be rolled over again after another seven years of service. This is absurd.

Moreover, their previous employers here will not and cannot be in a position to hold open an important job for someone for six months, notwithstanding the fact the cost and trauma they will face in trying to recruit new staff. Once their employee is forced out then the employer must find a replacement for that trusted employee, as the business must go on. Furthermore, with increasing living costs here any individual rolled over from here that is fortunate to find work in another country is likely to stay, as the chances are very good that their new homeland will offer a more realistic standard of living.

The seven-year rollover immigration rule is a policy designed to placate the xenophobic and even racist sentiments of a small minority here.

IMPACT as of June 2007:

It could be argued that the replacement workers for those “rolled-over” will sooner or later take up any slack in the market, but the recruitment of such replacements is itself proving more problematic than might have been anticipated, for several different reasons.

First, the existence of the rollover itself mitigates against the recruitment of anyone other than strictly transient workers, generally at the lower end of the scale. Such people do not typically rent apartments just for themselves, they tend to share – in some cases as much as eight persons and more to a two-bedroom apartment, which in turn is going to reduce the effect of normal demand for rental properties.

Second, the cost of living here in the Cayman Islands is becoming far more of a factor in the decision-making process by a prospective employee and, unless and until salaries on offer fully reflect the expense of living here, recruitment is going to continue to be difficult, if not impossible.

In the meantime, apartment and commercial property owners are left with unrented inventory and, thus far, there seems to be little downward movement in rents. This may be because the properties in question were built with borrowed funds and the owners cannot afford to take lower rents and still be able to meet their mortgage obligations. It is, however, true to say that they will never be able to meet their commitments if no rents are coming in at all.
Whilst on the subject of mortgages, we understand that the collections departments of local banks are currently working overtime in chasing up and threatening borrowers in arrears of loan payments.

The fact that borrowers are having difficulty in keeping up with repayments may be because of a number of external factors such as high interest rates and the increased cost of living generally, but it could hardly have come at a worse time, when the economy is already labouring under the burden of widespread immigrant rollover, with replacement that is not keeping pace with the departures.

The sad thing is that many of these negative consequences were easily predictable and it is now too late to take any corrective action, even if the rollover were to be repealed tomorrow, that would produce any meaningful short-term relief.

STATEMENT FROM the Hon. D. Kurt Tibbetts:

"We are aware that the rollover rules introduced in 2004 need amendment - to reduce the uncertainty and confusion, and to ensure that our economy is not damaged. The application of the rules, especially with respect to "key employees" and the grant of Permanent Residence, will have to be carefully monitored with the same objectives in mind. It is absolutely essential to the interests of all Caymanians that our economy stays strong, especially the two pillar industries, financial services and tourism.
To Caymanians we say "fear not"; you will not lose control of your country; you will still have priority, though everyone, at school and in the workplace, should understand that achievement is not a birthright; it requires dedication and hard work. To businesses, including the financial services sector, we say "fear not"; we understand the need to keep the economy strong. Consultations with you will be ongoing and you will find this government and the policy machinery, accessible.
To those whose permits are not renewed, we regret the necessity of this and hope you understand the reason. You are aware, I am sure that work permits issued by any government in any country, are for a specific period with no guarantee or assurance of renewal."

The best grocery shops on the Island

I shop at Fosters for almost everything except meat.  Nice ready made food at reasonable prices, the corn on the cob is always sitting on water cooked to death though.

Hurley's is number one for a gorgeous grocery shopping experience, fresh food, and excellent cuts of meat (especially steaks).  Serious prices however.  Great ready made food (oxtail and red bean soup are the best)

Kirk's for organic and homeopathic grocery shopping. Best and probably only selection of healthy living products.

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Cayman Nightlife

Highly Recommended!

O BAR - Wednesday to Saturday nights are hot after midnight. click here

NEXT LEVEL - A dance club with a real VIP area -Monday, Thursday and Friday.  click here

RITZ-CARLTON "Silver Palm Fridays" - BEST house music, with a DJ that knows his music. click here. 

SAPPHIRE - Great on a Friday and Saturday night. click here 

COHIBA - click here

Very nice on Thurs and Sat for live, modern jazz 

BAMBOO - A very trendy Friday night out. click here 

ROYAL PALMS - click here
For sophisticated live music on Friday and Saturday evening right on Seven Mile Beach.  Royal Palms by day.

The Cultures that live in Cayman

THE GOOD LIFE

The Good Life is a column written for the Caymanian Compass by Dave Martins and appears on Fridays.

Living in Cayman with this wide range of nationalities (100–plus) in such a small landscape, you gain fascinating insights into cultures that you would not ordinarily get unless you did a boatload of travelling.

You will find out, for example, that the Jamaican cuisine has a marked disposition for Lima beans. Nowhere else in the Caribbean would you find, as I did in the Foster’s morning buffet recently, a dish with cod fish and copious Lima beans.

I don’t think I ever saw a Lima bean before I left Guyana at age 21 for Canada; nor ackee, for that matter. Why is it that this tree – so easy to grow, so abundant a producer, with ackee so easy to prepare – is almost unknown in the rest of the Caribbean? Puzzling cultural forces operating there.

Living in Cayman you will also learn that the traditional Caribbean view of the Englishman as a reserved, conservative guy, given to the most meticulous manners, is largely a myth.

The English, in fact, are the most unconventional people in the world, happily displaying the most outrageous behaviour, and often breaking barriers of what’s proper and what’s not in public.

Let me throw some names at you: Boy George; The Profumo Scandal; Hugh Grant; Elton John – you don’t get more outlandish than that. And while we’re on the subject, the notion that the Scottish are the cheapest people on earth is another myth – it’s actually the English, as the folks at Sunset House can tell you.

In Grand Cayman, as opposed to Bridgetown or Kingston, you can walk into a restaurant and find yourself transported to a foreign country – Italy, China, India, etc – complete with the nationals of those places and some inside information.

You can learn, for example, in a Chinese restaurant that the love–making potion West Indian men use is actually a toothache anaesthetic in China. Try not to confuse the two uses.

If you’re an American or European living here, by rubbing shoulders with Trinidadians, you will come to know that carnival for those people is far more than a time of year – it is virtually a way of life that is with them all year round.

Trinis are the only people I know who, invited to your house, will actually come in the doorway chipping to some personal beat although no music is playing. They are also the only people I know who will make a joke – a picong they call it – about any and everything including, for example, the fact that you just mashed up your new car and broke your leg in the process. Don’t throw your crutches at them; it’s a cultural thing.

Mind you, it’s not all contradictions.

You will come to see, for example, that the stereotype of the all–knowing, smug American often holds true. Americans do believe that they’ve got the answer for everything “back in the States”, even though they’ve got 2 million people in jail, 40 million with no health insurance, and a hole in Iraq you could drive a country through.

To give them their due, however, the Americans will laugh at themselves when you challenge them; the Jamaican will tell you about your family.

And the other thing about Cayman is that the culture thing is an ongoing process. With the advent of Filipinos in recent years, for instance, we now know how they are about chickens, although, for the Italian waiters in the restaurants, we’re still trying to figure out what they do besides shouting “Hey paisan” and singing “Happy Birthday” with tambourines.

It’s a learning curve, and you’re getting the bad with the questionable – all part of the good life.--http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1022587