A 500-Member Church Worshipped in a Kingston Mall for a Decade. A Judge Ordered It Out

• A church had used seven units at Red Hills Mall since 2005
• The strata by-laws limited units to offices or shops
• Other proprietors complained of noise, parking and roaming children
• The court granted a permanent injunction against running a church there

A congregation that had worshipped inside a Kingston shopping mall for about a decade lost its fight to stay there when the Supreme Court ruled that the complex’s strata by-laws meant exactly what they said. The case, The Proprietors Strata Plan No. 305 v Greater Works International Fellowship, was decided by Justice Edwards in the Commercial Division, with the final hearing date recorded as May 22, 2015.

Greater Works International Fellowship occupied units 24 to 30 at Red Hills Mall, 105 Red Hills Road. Four of the units were used as a place of worship, with singing, praying, preaching and amplified music, while the other three served as an office, a bookshop and meeting space. The operation began in 2005. Unit proprietors Anthony Renaldo Young and Lorens Joy Young were joined as defendants alongside the church.

The strata corporation argued that its by-laws restricted the units to use as offices or shops. Its evidence described the effect on other businesses in the complex: the court record notes that “there has always been noise from the church activities which worsened in 2008 when an amplifier was installed”, and that “for the evening services and on Sundays, most of the spaces are occupied by the members of the church leaving very little for the patrons of the other proprietors.” According to the evidence, average Sunday attendance was about 500 people, roughly 20 per cent of whom drove.

The church side argued that the corporation had waited too long and effectively accepted the arrangement. Justice Edwards rejected the defences of acquiescence and laches, finding that the corporation had not previously known it could enforce the by-laws. The court held that the by-laws were valid and binding, that they had been breached, and granted a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from operating a church in the mall units.

For Jamaican congregations looking for space, particularly growing ministries that cannot yet buy land, the judgment is a clear warning. Commercial plazas and strata complexes can look like convenient homes for a church, but the by-laws registered with the strata plan govern what each unit may be used for, and a court will enforce them even years later. Before signing a lease or buying a unit, church boards and the returnees or diaspora members who often help fund them should read the strata by-laws, check the permitted use, and get legal advice. A cheaper building is no bargain if the congregation can be ordered out.