Elderly man recovers property from unruly tenant - Justice Centres Uganda

Elderly man recovers property from unruly tenant

This is a case of an old man, Peter, a retired Headteacher who owns a residential house in Lira City having purchased it in 1989. In 2020, he rented out his premises to Jamal and the tenancy began smoothly with Jamal paying rent upfront for a period of six months. After a while, he started defaulting on his rent dues.

Peter is a widower and a father of two, who had rented out his premises so that he could use the proceeds to cater for his children’s school fees. He was frustrated by Jamal’s actions because he kept tossing him about time and again as far as payment of his rent dues was concerned.

On top of neglecting his rental obligations, Jamal had also refused to vacate the premises even after he had been served with a Notice to vacate the said premises for breach of the Tenancy Agreement. Worst of all, he had caused the premises to be in a deplorable state, that is, broken window glasses, broken locks, lost keys for all the doors, dysfunctional security lights among others.

In a bid to handle the matter amicably, a JCU advocate tried holding several mediations with the parties but all in vain because Jamal kept making empty promises and missing some of the mediation sessions. This is when a civil suit against him was lodged in Lira Magistrate’s Court. The case was heard and the ruling was read in favor of the client. Peter was able to recover UGX. 3.1 million as rent due and Jamal was ordered to vacate the premises.

This is a case that called for the long hand of justice to intervene because “it was unfair for Peter not to benefit from and enjoy the fruit of his labor.” Said the JCU advocate that handled the case.

Peter was very pleased with the outcome and is quoted saying This tenant had been a total frustration to me because I even had to get loans to cater for my children’s school fees yet I have premises and someone is residing therein”.

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