Residents at Crescat, the luxurious apartment complex in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel complex in Colombo, have won an out of court settlement of Rs.72 million from the Asian Hotels and Properties Ltd (AHPL) on a dispute involving the rooftop of Crescat Residencies.

“We got Rs.50 million in cash and an apartment worth Rs.22 million,” Nahil Wijesuriya, Chairman, Management Corporation for Crescat Residencies (MCCR) said. The issue fired up last July when AHPL obtained a stay order against the MCCR. “The residents complained to the Condominium Management Authority (CMA) that the rooftop of Crescat Residencies was unlawfully seized by AHPL when they enclosed four car parking spaces and a storage area and rented that space out to Lanka Bell with a rental arrangement of over Rs. 1.3 million for approximately 46 months,” Mr. Wijesuriya said.

He then filed a separate case to stop AHPL from building their Emperor Apartment complex beyond 23 floors. “I am on the 24th floor at Crescat Apartments and in my title deed it is stated that AHPL cannot build beyond 23 floors. When they wanted to increase the apartments up to 35 floors, I got a restraining order against AHPL.”

He further said, “I used this as a pressure point for the benefit of the MCCR. When the present settlement was arrived at, I withdrew the case.” He said as a result, MCCR managed to secure a Rs.22 million apartment at Crescat Residencies. AHPL officials confirmed a settlement had been reached.