Land Registry liable for damages in "mortgage right"-case

July 21, 2009 7:30 AM

The parties, which are involved with the long-term case on mortgage right, have not held any further conversations yet on the consequences of a recent verdict by the judge.
In this verdict, the island Curaçao and the Land Registry were deemed responsible for the possible damage of the other parties, namely the Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (MCB), the ‘Spaar en Beleenbank’ Curaçao (SBC), and another unspecified owner of a lot on the island.

In November last year, it was also decreed in an interlocutory judgment that Notary Burgers was deemed responsible for damage as well.

The dispute concerns the purchase of a lot in 2003, for which the ‘Spaar en Beleenbank’ (SBC) arranged a mortgage of 295,000 guilders for a private person. However, the lot could not be sold just like that, as there was a question of a second mortgage, which had been arranged years ago by the Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (MCB) for another party. This former mortgage could not be paid back, as a result that the MCB had the right to look for compensation by having the lot sold. As the MCB actually wanted to make use of this so-called mortgage right, with the consequence that, the current owner and the SBC would suffer the loss for an amount of approx. 150,000 guilders. The SBC therefore started a judicial procedure against Notary Burgers four years ago, who had arranged the entire transaction.
The judge had already sentenced in November that Notary Burgers had not performed its work correctly. At any rate, during the search at the Land Registry, one of the co-workers had overlooked the fact that another mortgage was applicable on the lot. The co-worker had only turned to the so-called E-register, whilst he should have searched other registers. In May, the judge deemed that the Land Registry was also in default by not informing Notary Burgers of the second mortgage, whilst this would have come to light during the interim controls of the last inspection. The island is held responsible, as the Land Registry is a concern of the island.

Lawyers’ office Van Eps, Kunneman and Van Doorne, the attorney-at-law of SBC, is pleased with the verdict and even mentions the verdict on his website. The primary reason for this is however, that the notaries and the mortgagees on the island closely followed the case. “It was interesting to see who the judge would eventually hold responsible”, says Dave Liqui-Lung, SBC’s lawyer.
The extent of the actual damage for his client and the other parties is not known yet, and can be calculated on short notice, even though it concerns 150,000 guilders. Liqui-Lung expects that all involved parties will attempt to reach an agreement.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

July 13, 2009