The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Landlord

  • Landlord arraigned for forceful ejection of tenant

    A 43-year-old landlord, Dayo Ajayi, appeared before a Surulere Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, charged with assault on a couple while they were sleeping.

    The accused, who lives at Kelani Street, Surulere, Lagos state, is facing a two-count charge of burglary and assault.

    Prosecuting Police Corporal Gbenga Salami, told the court that the accused committed the offence on March 13.

    He said the accused forcefully broke the door and entered into the couple’s apartment because they owed him house rent.

    The prosecutor added that, “After breaking into the apartment, the accused hit the couple’ back and fingers with broken bottles when they were sleeping and ordered them to pack out of his house that night.

    “Neighbours begged the accused but he refused; and an eyewitness had to alert the police who then came and arrested him.’’

    Salami said the offences contravened Sections 171 and 404 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

    Ajayi pleaded not guilty.

    Chief Magistrate M.O. Olajuwon granted him N100,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    She ordered that the sureties must show evidence of three years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government and must be residents of Lagos and have genuine means of livelihood.

    She adjourned the case till June 24.

     

  • N10m suit: court orders firm, landlord to maintain peace

    Justice Olamide Akinkugbe of a  Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has ordered a travels and tourism firm, Peacock Travels and Tours Limited  and its landlord, Jude Ekwenife to ensure that  they maintain peace between them.

    Justice Akinkugbe last week  while adjourning  a suit between the parties for further hearing till May 19, 2015.

    She also ordered the counsels for both parties to advise their clients not to take any action that would amount to treating the court with contempt.

    The orders were issued after the applicant had told the court that the roof on its office was being removed thereby leaving  its properties opened up for destruction.

    The respondent on the other hand claimed before the court that the applicant had sent police after him.

    Peacock had dragged its landlord, Ekwenife, before the court  claiming N10million as damages over alleged harassment and damages of its properties.

    Sued alongside Ekwenife was Mrs. Yinka Igandan, who was said  to be the former landlady to Peacock before she sold her property and transferred ownership to Ekwenife.

    In the statement of claim, the applicant stated that after purchasing the property at No. 136, Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Lagos, the new landlord, Ekwenife, had allegedly refused to recognise Peacock as his tenant and had therefore ordered the firm to pack out even while its annual rent paid to its former landlady, was still subsisting.

    The firm alleged that on July 15, 2014, “suspected thugs and other hirelings in the company of the 1st respondents invaded the business premises of the applicant and proceeded to demolish parts of the structure and in the process destroyed the petitioner’s Internet connection hardware and water tanks.”

    The firm claimed that in a bid to forcefully eject it, the first defendant caused a tipper load of gravel to be offloaded right at its office entrance, thus humiliating the firm before its clients and making  difficult its daily business conduct.

    According to the firm’s Senior Human Resources Manager, Owoade Akinjide, efforts by the police to settle the matter failed after Ekwenife allegedly refused to cooperate with the police.

    The applicant said its workers had been working under the fear of being picked up by policemen from the Terrorism and Heinous Crime Unit because Ekwenife had gone to lodge a complaint against them and had allegedly misrepresented facts of the dispute.

    The travel agency is therefore  praying the court to restrain Ekwenife from ejecting it forcefully in addition to payment of  N10million as damages for its properties that were allegedly damaged by the first defendant.

    It is also  is seeking a declaration that there is a tenant-landlord agreement between it and Ekwenife.

    But Ekwenifin his response,  urged the court to decline jurisdiction over the matter and to declare that the applicant had no locus standi to institute the action.

    In a counter-affidavit deposed to by himself, Ekwenife denied being the purchaser of the property, and insisted that one Chief Segun Phillip, rather than Peacock was the recognized tenant on the property.

  • Tenants tackle landlord over controversial ‘distressed’ building

    Occupants of a building at 13, Alhaji Bashiru Street, Ojodu, a suburb of Lagos, have faulted the claims by the owner of the building that it was distressed.

    The owner of the two-storey building, Pa Ganiyu Bolaji Davies, alleged in a report published penultimate Saturday by The Nation that his tenants had refused to move out of the building after it became distressed following a fire disaster that ravaged it in 2013.

    Some of the tenants of the building, including Kolawole Usman, Olusola Tuase and Sunday Okeke, said Pa Davies was spreading falsehood about the true state of the house.

    “The building used to be a bungalow until it was renovated in March 2013 by a developer,Hassan Habeeb, who was contracted by Pa Davies, popularly called Gabovies. Habeeb was to manage the property for 18 years. We moved into the building in April 2013 and to our dismay a few months later, Pa Davies asked us to move out of the house following a disagreement with the developer, whom we had paid two years rent.

    ‘’We told him that he cannot ask us to quit our apartments on the ground that he was not known to us and that our rent was paid to Habeeb. We asked him to settle his differences with Habeeb but he has refused till date.

    “Pa Davies went ahead to disconnect electricity supply to the building and even invited officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LSBC) to inspect the building  alleging that it was distressed. The Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory (LSMTL) also carried out tests on the building and its report did not indicate that the building was distressed.

    “When Pa Davies found out that his efforts to forcibly eject us had failed, he wanted to use a fire outbreak, which ravaged a portion of the top floor of the building, to ease us out of the house. The truth is that, Pa Davies had taken the developer to court in order to repossess his house from him, but the court  presided by Justice Bola Okikiolu asked Pa Davies to refund the sum of N30 million to Habeeb in respect of the 18- year lease agreement.

    ‘’As we speak, Pa Davies has not paid the money to Habeeb and our tenancy is still valid.Towards the end of last year, he invited some men of the Criminal Investigation Department(CID), Alagbon, to eject us but we explained to the officers that our rent _was still valid and that Pa Davies had not refunded our rent as promised.All the allegations he made against us in your publication last week were lies and figment of his imagination. At the moment, he has no right over the building because he has not refunded the N30 million to the developer as directed by the court, hence, Habeeb remains the person we know as being in charge of the building.’’

    In a telephone conversation with our correspondent, Habeeb said Pa Davies was spreading outright lies in a bid to take his building from him through the back door.

    “He contracted me to develop and manage the building. We signed an 18-year lease agreement and I paid him the sum of N500,000 to seal the agreement. After I had completed the job and got tenants into the building, he suddenly wanted to severe the agreement and I refused. He filed a suit against me and the court has asked him to refund the sum of N30 million being the value of what I spent to renovate the house from an uncompleted bungalow to a two-storey building. Instead of paying me the money as directed by the court, he has been troubling the tenants all in a bid to forcibly take the house from me. The truth is that he cannot have his house back until he pays me my money.’’

    Pa Davies, however, told our correspondent to disregard the remarks of his tenants and developer, citing the judgment of the court which empowers him to make refund to occupants who are yet to secure apartments after paying money to Habeeb.

    “I gave the job to Habeeb in 2012. He was to manage the building for 18 years but part of the agreement was that he would give me three mini-flat apartments on each of the floors of the building. Instead, he rented out all the 27 mini-flats without giving me mine as agreed. I then got   a _judgment to retrieve the building from him and I was ordered to pay N30 million to those who have paid him money but are yet to take possession of their apartments.

    “A portion of the building was set ablaze by one of the tenants. As a result of this, the building has become deplorable,hence, I asked them to move out. I asked them not to pay any rent to Habeeb and because of that, the tenants started subletting their apartments. They have refused to vacate their apartments even when their rents had expired. I did not disconnect electricity supply to the building, on the contrary, the tenants were the ones that raised the alarm over poor installation of electric wire into the building.

    ‘’When they came to me, I asked that light be disconnected from the building pending the time the problem would be fixed. Light has since been restored to the building after the error was corrected by electricians from a public electricity distribution company.’’

    In a judgement delivered by Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile of an Ikeja High Court on June 27, 2013, the court, among others, ruled that the claimant(Pa Davies) “shall pay the sum of thirty million to the defendant (Habeeb) being the sum for the developed property in respect of the 18-year lease period executed in favour of the defendant as contain in the said lease agreement.”

  • Student arraigned for ‘assaulting’ landlord

    A tenant, Doris Okafor (24), yesterday appeared before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly assaulting her landlord.

    Okafor, a student, who lives at 43, 4th Avenue, Road 403, Festac Town in Lagos, was charged with “conspiracy and assault occasioning harm.”

    Prosecuting, Sergeant Daniel Ighodalo said Okafor committed the offences on March 18 at 66, Emmanuel Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

    He said the accused with four others at large assaulted the landlord, Godwin Ulom, in his Lekki home.

    “The student assaulted the landlord after he had a confrontation with her for smoking hemp as well as her alleged association with persons of questionable character. The tenant came to the landlord’s residence with four men suspected to be hoodlums to beat him up,’’ Ighodalo said.

    The offences, he said, contravened Sections 171 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    Section 171 recommends three years imprisonment for assault occasioning harm Section 409 provides a two-year jail term for conspiracy.

    Okafor pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Olaitan Ajayi granted him N20,000 bail with a surety in the like sum. She adjourned the case till May 18 for mention.

  • Landlord sends sos to Lagos govt over distressed building

    Nigeria’s first cinematographer and former NTA Chief Cameraman, Pa Ganiyu Bolaji Davies, 81years and owner of a property sited at 13, Alhaji Bashiru Street, Ojodu, Lagos State, has raised an alarm over the distressed state of the two-storey building.

    He has therefore sent an SOS to the Lagos State Government for urgent action to forestall any further calamity, as the building poses a serious danger to both the tenants who refused bluntly to vacate at the expiration of their tenancy and other residents in Ojodu area of the State.

    According to the landlord, a portion of the building was gutted by fire sometime in 2003 and he invited officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), to assess it in compliance with the Lagos State Urban and Regional Planning and Development law.

    Consequently, the Enforcement Department of the agency, in a notice with reference number LASBCA/IKJ/13/DN 120A and dated 12 May, 2013, observed that apart from the fact that the building is densely populated, it is in a distressed state and therefore unfit for human habitation. In addition, he said the property was recommended for demolition, while the occupants were given seven days to vacate it.

    The octogenarian stated further that the tenants have continued to ignore the several quit notices served on them since then, thereby prompting him to ask his lawyers to notify LABSCA of the development and seek advice on further steps to take over the matter.

    The law firm of P.A.G.E., according to Davies, wrote a petition dated February 24, 2015 and signed by one A.E. Taiwo Esquire to LABSCA, intimating the agency on the refusal of some of the tenants to quit the building despite its visibly distressed nature and several warnings to them on the inherent danger to their lives and those of others in case the building eventually collapses.

    According to Davies, the building is now on the verge of collapse and that could happen any moment.

    He therefore urged LABSCA and other concerned agencies to intervene in the matter without delay and with a view of forestalling another case of collapsed building in the state and the attendant casualty that may result there from.

  • Landlord dies in Lagos fire

    A landlord was killed yesterday when fire gutted his apartment in a two-storey building in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb.

    The man identified as Suberu was said to be living with his son and a domestic servant in the house on Alhaji Rasak Street, Egbeda.

    The others were not hurt.

    The fire was said to have started around midnight but was not noticed by residents.

    There was no light when the fire started.

    A resident, who gave his name simply as Mr Sule, described the late Suberu as a philanthropist.

    “Alhaji was a detribalised man who would allow non-indigenes to be maltreated. He was always willing to help within his means if one confronts him with his or her problems; it is just unfortunate that such a good man would die in this manner. Ah! He was generous to a fault,” Sule said.

    Another resident, Mama Razak, whose building is opposite the deceased’s,said she and her household were attracted by the smoke from his flat.

    She said: “As we contemplated on what to do, the smoke was accompanied by huge fire which took three trucks of the fire fighters to put out. I wonder what might have caused the fire.”

    The deceased has been buried in his compound, according to Islamic injuction.

  • Court orders landlord, tenant to explore out of court settlement

    Court orders landlord, tenant to explore out of court settlement

    Justice Owolabi Dabiri of Lagos State High Court, Ikeja has directed a landlord,Mr. Banji Adesanmi and the Lagos State to settle with a tenant, Yemi Omodele.

    Justice Dabiri gave the order while ruling in a suit filed by Omodele against his landlord and  five other defendants.

    The other defendants include Construction Management Skill Ltd, Peace Tiding Ventures Limited, Mr. Leke Oyetan, Attorney General of Lagos State and Commissioner of Finance Lagos State

    Omodele had appeared for himself in the suit as plaintiff while Miss. Hallima Ahmed and Olawale Ijabiken  appeared for the first to fourth defendants and for fifth and sixth defendants respectively.

    Omodele, in the suit NO. ID/974/2013 claiming jointly and severally against the defendants a sum of N100, 000,500.00 as damages for segregation  and sealing of a building belonging to his landlord, Adesanmi, located at 2, Akinremi Street, Anifowoshe, Ikeja allegedly by agents of the government.

    The plaintiff is claiming that part of the building which was sealed up on June 28, 2013 was not reopened until February 7, 2014, the day the suit filed in court since December 10, 2013 came up for hearing for the first time.

    According to the plaintiff, while the part he claimed to be occupying was sealed up, the  part of the building that  is occupied by the landlord and his two companies joined in the suit, was not sealed by the government.

    At the resumed hearing of the matter which was to hear two notices of preliminary objections filed by counsel to first to fourth defendants, the trial judge brought it to the notices of counsels that the issues raised in the suit are matters that  be settled out of court.

    She ordered parties in the suit to therefore seek solution to the dispute outside the court since the issue involved are landlord-tenant matter.

    “I have read the papers filed in this suit. The issues are what can be resolved. Counsels and the parties are to meet and resolve the dispute amicably. Case adjourned to November 21, 2014 for report of settlement or hearing of the two notices of preliminary objections filed”, the judge ordered.

  • Robbers kill two vigilantes, landlord in Abia

    Robbers have killed three persons in Aba, the commercial centre of Abia State.

    The dead included two members of a vigilance group and the landlord of one of the houses the hoodlums attempted to rob at the weekend.

    It was learnt that when the robbers attempted to enter the homes on Ogechi/Nwanmu Street, off Ohanku Road, in the commercial town, the vigilantes confronted them.

    This led to an exchange of gun fire between the robbers and the vigilantes, sources said.

    The robbers, who were said to have superior firepower, killed the two members of the vigilance group.

    Other vigilantes reportedly fled from the scene.

    It was learnt that this gave the robbers the opportunity to climb into one of the blocks of flats where they shot at the landlord, whose name could not be immediately ascertained. He was said to have died on the spot.

    Some members of the landlord’s household were said to have been injured in the attack and taken to an undisclosed private hospital.

    It was also learnt that a police team, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Ndiegoro, Crescent Mamah, arrived the scene late because of the bad road linking the area.

  • Landlord remanded for injuring tenant

    A Grade 1 Area Court in Karu, FCT, on Wednesday sentenced a landlord, Phillip Zaure, to eight months in prison for causing grievous hurt on his tenant.

    Zaure, who resides in Gidan Mangoro on the Abuja Airport road, was arraigned on two counts of criminal force and causing grievous hurt.

    The presiding judge, Mr Hassan Ishaq, also ordered Zaure to pay N17,000 being medical expenses incurred by the tenant, Uche Kalu.

    The Judge also ordered him to write and sign an undertaken that he would bear all other medical expenses incurred by the complainant.

    He gave the accused an option of N35,000 fine.

    The prosecutor, Insp. Pascal Njoku, had informed the court that the tenant, Kalu, lodged a report against the accused at the Karshi Police Station on March 24.

    Njoku also told the court that the complainant came into the police station, covered in blood, due to injuries he sustained during the assault.

    According to Njoku, the complainant said the accused attacked him with a cutlass because he had reported a misdemeanor of the accused’s children to him.

    Njoku said the accused was currently receiving treatment at the Primary Healthcare Centre in Gidan Mangoro on the Airport Road.

    He said the offence contravened the Penal Code.

    The accused pleaded guilty and begged the court for leniency.

    “I was provoked because of the manner in which he approached me. I am very sorry,” he said. (NAN)