I was speaking to an overseas investor who bought a condominium on our Seven Mile Beach last Monday (15). He was very angry.

My wife and I were having dinner with him and his family at the condominium. It was a very pleasant evening. He had a ground floor unit and we sat outside for a while eating hors d’oeuvres whilst the steaks were being grilled.

The view was magnificient. It was peaceful. It was Paradise.

He told me most of the units were owned by elderly people who rented the units out to long-term tenants and very rarely ever came down to visit.

He had bought the unit some years ago, not only for himself, but for his family. The property would be handed down to his descendants when he and his wife passed away.

He had been concerned about investing in property in the Caribbean because there were certain risks attached. It was a foreign entity. How safe was the property? Could it be sold under his feet and without his permission?

He had settled on the Cayman Islands because of the Strata Law that said the property could not be demolished and redeveloped without all 100% owners agreeing.

He said if he was offered three times what he had paid for his unit he would not sell.

However, there is a proposed amendment that had somehow sneaked into the proposed revisions, that up to then he had been in favour with. This is the one that has made his whole family more furious than angry bears!

The amendment, if passed, will allow stratas to demolish and redevelop Seven Mile Beach condos with a 75 per cent supermajority vote – rather than the unanimous vote that was formerly required.

There is no grandfather clause – in other words it would not apply to existing properties. The law, as planned, is retroactive.

He quite rightly said, “Who on earth will want to invest in the Cayman Islands, if a government can arbitrarily change a fundamental rule that gave him protection and made him feel safe? The Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association (CIREBA) has described the change as “a direct and retroactive attack on individual property rights”.

The only reason for this change is that some persons who own the Seven Mile developments, or who represent the owners, and unfortunately I know are also members of CIREBA, see huge dollar signs. Huge dollars they can make very quickly. And, they have also “spun” a good story to some of the government ministers who make the final decisions.

Once again, these persons look at the front of the picture and not the back.

I can only hope these decision makers can see how dangerous it is to change laws that affect ownership rights.

The ramifications if this amendment comes to pass will affect all of us. Our country’s reputation that has suffered already from the suspicious behaviour of some of our peers, will be tarnished even more – and could be forever!