Challenging CDAL's "Self-Help" Tactics and Lack of Due Process

1. Introduction

Within Jolly Harbour, Antigua, Caribbean Developments (Antigua) Limited ("CDAL") has come under scrutiny for employing unilateral "self-help" or coercive tactics—such as threatening to disconnect utilities or disable autopasses—against freeholders who withhold payment of disputed charges. Equally troubling is the lack of meaningful engagement or dialogue with these homeowners, despite repeated inquiries and concerns raised under the covenant requiring fees to be "to and for the benefit" of each parcel.

From a British common law perspective—heavily influencing Antiguan legal principles—such self-help measures without due process are rarely sanctioned and often deemed a form of economic or operational coercion. This article explores these issues and the legal recourses freeholders have at their disposal.