“The Building Is Captured by a Church”: Lucea Mayor Wants Council Property Back for a Youth Training Centre

• Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels says a church is occupying a building owned by the Hanover Municipal Corporation
• The church has been there for more than four years
• The council wants the property for a tourism training centre with the Grand Palladium Hotel and HEART/NSTA Trust
• Church members say they did not know it was council property and had spent money repairing it after Hurricane Melissa

In most of Jamaica’s land stories, churches are the ones losing property to squatters. In Lucea, Hanover, the roles are reversed. Mayor Sheridan Samuels says a church has been occupying a building owned by the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) for more than four years, and the council wants it back, the Gleaner reported in April 2026. The church was not named.

The HMC has plans for the property. It wants to turn the building into a tourism training centre in partnership with the Grand Palladium Hotel and the HEART/NSTA Trust. “Right now, the building is captured by a church, and we need that building because we have plans for the youth,” Samuels said.

The congregation tells a different story. A church member said: “We were not aware that the building belongs to the HMC, and no one from the HMC has been in touch with us.” The church says it got the property through an individual who claimed responsibility for the building, and that it has spent thousands of dollars on repairs after Hurricane Melissa and on other improvements. It has said it is willing to settle the matter through dialogue with the HMC. The report also noted an allegation that an HMC employee had occupied the property before the church moved in.

The standoff shows how easily a congregation looking for space can end up on shaky legal ground. The church appears to have relied on the word of a person who said they were responsible for the building, rather than on a title search or a written lease with the owner.

For churches across Jamaica, especially young congregations hunting for affordable premises, the message is simple: before moving in or spending money on repairs, confirm who owns the property through the National Land Agency, and get any occupancy arrangement in writing from the registered owner. Money spent improving a building you do not legally hold may never be recovered. For the diaspora members and donors who often fund those repairs, it is worth asking for proof of ownership or a proper lease before sending help.

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