George Town Central MLA Kenneth Bryan told Cayman 27 details in former firefighter Raul Martinez’ foreclosure story and other irregularities he has seen have raised concerns the valuation industry is not properly regulated.
Monday night (9 April), Mr. Martinez showed Cayman 27 valuations of his property taken between 2008 and 2012 in the $700,000 to $800,000 range. He said the bank’s valuators came with much lower figures, and his home ultimately sold for $285,000.
Mr. Bryan said such discrepancies in valuations warrants investigation.
“It has to be investigated,” he said. “I was hoping that by now the government would’ve taken some action in respect to this because it brought this matter up last year in finance committee and they gave me their commitment to bring it up as a discussion point for their government, and we still haven’t heard anything.”
Mr. Bryan said he brought the issue of discrepancies in property valuations to the attention of Lands Minster Hon. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly five months ago, asking for her to bring the matter to caucus.
“In the spirit of friendliness, I would not wish to keep him in a state of amazement so I would be happy to take on board his recommendations to the caucus,” said Minister O’Connor-Connolly on 10 November in response to Mr. Bryan’s question.
Cayman 27 reached out to Ms. O’Connor-Connolly for an update on the valuations issue, and have not yet heard back.
Add Comment
You must log in to post a comment.