City Leases Questioned as Court Backs Property Rights

A court ruling meant to resolve one land dispute is now sending ripples through Belize City and putting small businesses on edge. At the center of it all is Gwen’s Kitchen on Coney Drive, where the Court of Appeal made it clear that a lease from City Hall does not trump the rights of the titled landowner. While the restaurant managed to hold its ground, thanks to the efforts of its owners, the decision is raising alarm bells for dozens of street-side vendors operating under similar arrangements. For many of them, this isn’t just about paperwork or property lines. It’s about livelihoods, years of hard work, investment, and sacrifice that could now be at risk. News Five’s Shane Williams takes a closer look at the ruling and what it could mean for Belize City’s small business community.

 

Shane Williams Reporting…

The owner of Belizean Meat Pies have been operating in the Mahogany Street area for over five years. Just two stores away is Third Kitchen. They have been on the Mahogany Street area for over seventeen years. And two stores away is Willie D’s Exotic Barbershop, fifteen years in the Mahogany Street area. The Court of Appeals ruling on Gwen’s Kitchen put all these properties in limbo at the mercy of the property adjoining them behind.

 

For years, Gwen’s Kitchen has been more than just a roadside restaurant. Behind the busy lunch rush was a legal battle quietly unfolding over the land beneath the business. Today, owner Tiffany Cadle says she is relieved by the Court of Appeal’s ruling which upheld her legally issued title and protected her right to conduct business.

 

Tiffany Cadle, Owner, Gwen’s Kitchen

“It’s going on five years. It started, I think, in 2020, and we are in 2026. We feel good. And we’re happy that our building remains, our business remain, the property remains for us. So we’re we feel good about that. Every single person have a right to survive and we saw the portion of land. It was not being used. It was a vacant piece of property and we saw the idea that, but we could put up a small restaurant here. And one of the things that I have noticed is that people don’t realize the value of something until when somebody else create a value in it.”

 

The Court of Appeal found that City Hall and the government violated landowner Ethel Thompson’s rights by issuing a lease and title for Gwen’s Kitchen without consulting her.

 

Tiffany Cadle

“The crux of the judgment to me is saying that one of the reasons why the breach occur is because notice was not given to the Thompsons in one, leasing the land or selling the land.”

 

And nowhere is that judgment more concerning than at the Mahogany Street Marketplace. The businesses here operate under leases issued through the Belize City Council, the same kind of lease arrangement challenged in the Gwen’s case.

 

Ainsley Castro, Owner, Vendor

“ At the end of the day, da just poor people we and we just have to inna it to survive. Cah see me, I no gwein no way from out ya cause I no got no money to go to court. I no got no way fi goh mein. All ah they da fi me man then this wa pass down to my kids, and I think they da the same way pan da side deh.”

 

Shane Williams

“And what you have fi operate out here? You have a lease or a title for where you deh?”

 

Ainsley Castro

“Yeah, we got a lease cah this da the buffer zone.”

 

For vendors like Castro, the concern is not just about property law. It is about survival.

 

Ainsley Castro

“ I familiar with everybody, everybody familiar with me. And then I gone far, I deh far, so I can’t turn back and also I wouldn’t want that for nobody also because at the end of the day, right now it rough right now, so we just have to catch on. And they time ya we push some quality food. I noh lie yo. So we do it with a lot of passion.”

 

Shane Williams

“You ever had any thoughts about trying to get title for the land where you operate on? “

 

Ainsley Castro

“Bwai that da wa good one you ask me there. I have to look into something like that. Because at the end of the day, you push your all in a this to mein. So that a something good fi look into fi true.”

 

Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner says the Council is reviewing the ruling with serious concern, especially its impact on small vendors operating on city reserves. He says the focus now is on balancing vendors’ leases with property owners’ frontage rights, while protecting the Council’s authority to issue future licenses. The ruling, he adds, also reinforces efforts to secure titles for city parks and playgrounds. Wagner says the Council is now consulting its legal team to determine its next move. And with so many livelihoods potentially affected, Cadle says the legal fight may not be over yet.

 

Tiffany Cadle

“The judgment will allow my business to continue there. It is a position where maybe the government or a city council might have to decide if they want to take it further so that they can see what the CCJ has to say about that because I believe that their, the act that governs them tell them what they can and can’t do with property which they have control of.”

 

Until this matter is ultimately settled at the Caribbean Court of Justice, vendors across Belize City are left balancing uncertainty with determination as they continue to serve customers every day while wondering whether the ground beneath their businesses is truly secure. Shane Williams for News Five.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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