What was once a dream of home ownership has devolved into a legal battle, pitting a local housing development company against a disgruntled client.
Akeem Francis, who hired Caribbean Housing Solutions (CHS) to craft his dream home, said blunders in construction led him to terminate their services and demand a repayment that is justified due to significant financial losses.
Construction on Francis’ residence began in March 2024. He said he visited the site and found egregious errors in the foundation. After spending approximately $40 000 on an architect to redesign a compliant plan and employing various civil engineers to verify the structural integrity, frustrations mounted, and Francis decided to take drastic action.
“I was given a completely different route where I was able to design the entire house from start to finish and have some of my own people come in for certain things and sub-contract some people. However, major mistakes were still made by his team, which put us at a crossroad,” Francis said.
“I felt trapped by the contract. You have to give them a chance to fix mistakes, but they only seem to compound. After three attempts to rectify the issues, it became clear to me that this was a sinking ship.”
Despite his efforts, including a plea for the company to fix the problems, he said CHS failed to address his concerns adequately. By August 2024, Francis formally sought to terminate the contract. However, he said CHS has yet to provide the requested repayment of $680 726.96, which he attributes to various expenses incurred during the process, including legal, architectural, and mortgage-related costs.
CHS’s director, Renaldo White, stands firm that the claims made by Francis are baseless.
“From our assessments and the reports provided by civil engineers, there have been no fundamental issues with the structure,” he explained on Friday. “While Akeem is adamant that the foundation was flawed, we have evidence to suggest that the architecture and construction met standard codes.”
The chasm between the two parties widens further with allegations of communication breakdowns. Francis accused CHS of neglecting his attempts to negotiate a settlement.
“You still have to pay rent. Still paying your mortgage. The house is not being built and my mortgage is approaching $1 million,” Francis lamented. “I simply want to recover my investment and move on, but all I’m met with is resistance and disregard.”
White said that CHS has kept lines of communication open. He added there was a discussion about repurchasing the property; however, he contests the fairness of Francis’ repayment demands, referring to them as unreasonable and driven by emotion rather than contractual obligations.
He said that initially, Francis sought to purchase the land and build within his own terms, but this was not an option since they only sell house and land solutions. With an agreement settled, the company began to build the house.
“We received several plans from Akeem’s architect, but they contained inaccuracies,” White noted, adding that the plots of land in Southview posed unique challenges due to the terrain.
“He had one step to the side door, but the architect did not come and do a site visit before he drew the plans, because if you look at the land in South View Kent, you can’t, it is on a slope. It’s at the bottom of a hill.
“So, you know the house got to be positioned a certain height above the ground. If not, when the rain falls it will be flooded. So, we actually expense ourselves even more because we brought the house up to a certain height,” he explained.
“We got up to the roof and at that stage, Akeem visited the site and told the guys to down tools, he don’t like what’s going on here and this and that. He never once came to me and said he had an issue with the property. He brought a civil engineer and the civil engineer did a report and the report was favourable on the part of Caribbean Housing Solutions. I didn’t want any problems with anybody, so subject to formal contract, I said I would repurchase the house and give him back certain fees,” he said.
In November 2024, legal correspondence laid out the financial breakdown that Francis sought
to recover: disbursed mortgage proceeds dated to the November period and valued at $581 370.75; mortgage payments as of November 2024 valued at $32 042 and $5 606 insurance, $17 505.51 in legal fees and expenses, $40 269.50 in architect fees and $3 933.10 for installation of wiring for air conditioning.
However, White disputes the legitimacy of several claims, particularly those regarding architectural costs and additional services which he insists were not performed.
The Sunday Sun visited the site where CHS brought an independent civil engineer to assess the site. The expert conducted a PSI (pounds per square inch) test to evaluate the structural integrity of the concrete, finding the lot to boast a PSI of 5 000 – well beyond the typical threshold of 3 750. The engineer remarked: “I see no significant structural defects, and minor adjustments could easily remedy slight imperfections.”
According to Clause 28 (e) of their contract, any disputes regarding alleged defects should proceed to arbitration. Yet, neither party seems to have made substantial moves toward resolving the matter through this channel, with last communications noted as early as February 2025 from White’s legal team.
Meanwhile, Francis states that arbitration has not been possible and charged that the development company has not responded to his appeals.
