Wakilii

Rajabali Valimohamed Vaiya & Ors v General Parts (U) Ltd (Civil Suit No. 570 of 2002)

High Court · [2014] UGHCLD 39 · 2014 Judgment for Plaintiffs AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for rental arrears and eviction following repossession of expropriated property
Decision
Judgment entered for the plaintiffs with declarations of breach and rightful termination, rental arrears payment ordered subject to set-off for improvements, and general damages awarded.

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that a sitting tenant on repossessed expropriated property, as a licensee, has no locus standi to challenge the repossession process for fraud under the Expropriated Properties Act. A certificate of repossession divests the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board of statutory authority, rendering any subsequent allocation moot. Rental arrears were upheld at UGX 52,061,285, subject to set-off for improvements valued at UGX 55,000,000.

Outcome

Judgment entered for the plaintiffs with declarations of breach and rightful termination, rental arrears payment ordered subject to set-off for improvements, and general damages awarded.

Facts

The plaintiffs were registered proprietors of Kyadondo LRV 184 Folio 4 at plot 14 South Street (Ben Kiwanuka Street). They received a repossession certificate on 1 December 1995 after the property was expropriated. They retained the defendant company as a tenant for one shop and two flats from April 1993 at a monthly rent of UGX 1,800,000. The defendant defaulted repeatedly on rent payments. Six post-dated cheques executed in a payment agreement dated 21 May 1997 were dishonoured. The plaintiffs claimed rental arrears of UGX 52,061,285. The plaintiffs sold the repossessed property to Kunnal Pradip Karia in 2005. The defendant contested the rental charges and claimed the repossession process was fraudulent, asserting it was a temporary allocatee under the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board. The defendant counterclaimed for improvements valued at UGX 55,000,000 and goods allegedly distressed for rent valued at UGX 145,100,000.

Issues

  1. Whether the defendant is indebted to the plaintiffs by way of rental arrears.
  2. Whether the plaintiffs fraudulently repossessed the property comprised in Kyadondo LRV 184 Folio 4 at plot 14 South Street.
  3. Whether the parties are entitled to the respective remedies prayed for.

Orders

  • It is declared that the defendant did breach the tenancy it entered into with the plaintiffs.
  • It is declared that the plaintiffs rightfully and lawfully terminated the tenancy on account of the defendant's breach thereof.
  • It is ordered that the defendant pays Ushs. 52,061,285/= to the plaintiffs being rent arrears due and owing to them.
  • It is ordered that the defendant off-set Ushs. 55,000,000/= from the monies due to the plaintiffs in rental arrears, being the value of improvements to the property comprised in Kyadondo LRV 184 Folio at plot 14 South Street.
  • General damages for breach of tenancy arrangement are awarded to the plaintiffs in the sum of Ushs. 10,000,000/=.
  • Costs to the plaintiffs.

Rules and key headnotes

Expropriated Property — Repossession — Certificate of Repossession — Effect on DAPCB Authority
Once a certificate authorising repossession is issued under section 7(a) of the Expropriated Properties Act, the Departed Asians Property Custodian Board is divested of its statutory mandate over the property, and any purported allocation by the Board thereafter is moot and of no legal effect.
Expropriated Property — Standing to Challenge Repossession — Licensee as Sitting Tenant
A sitting tenant on expropriated property, occupying as a licensee under a tenancy arrangement, has no locus standi to institute a counterclaim alleging fraud in the repossession process, as a licence does not confer any estate or interest in the land and the tenant is not an aggrieved person under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act.
Land Act — Lawful and Bonafide Occupants — Exclusion of Licensees
A person on land on the basis of a licence from the registered owner is explicitly excluded from the definition of lawful or bonafide occupant under section 29(4) of the Land Act and therefore does not possess a legally recognised interest in land sufficient to challenge fraud in the land transaction.
Expropriated Properties Act — Appeal Time Limits — Section 15
An appeal under section 15 of the Expropriated Properties Act against a decision of the Minister must be lodged within 30 days from the date of communication of the decision, and a counterclaim brought well beyond that period is time-barred.
Tenancy — Payment Agreement — Acknowledgement of Rent Terms
An agreement to pay executed by the parties, acknowledging rental arrears and setting out a payment schedule, constitutes acknowledgement by the tenant of the rental terms of the tenancy arrangement, even where the parties did not reduce the tenancy into a formal written agreement.
Improvements on Rental Property — Valuation — Set-off Against Rental Arrears
Where a tenant has undertaken improvements on rental premises and the landlord seeks to recover rental arrears, the value of reimbursable improvements must be determined on a balance of probabilities and set off against the arrears due, and improvements that are customised for the property's use warrant compensation under section 12(2) of the Expropriated Properties Act.
Mesne Profits — Requirement for Market Rent Evidence
A claim for mesne profits under section 2(m) of the Civil Procedure Act requires evidence of the current market rent of the property for the period of wrongful occupation after termination of the tenancy, and will be disallowed where no such evidence is adduced.

Legislation cited (19)

Cases cited (7)

  • Captain Harry Gandy v Caspair Air Charter Ltd (1956) 23 EACA 139
  • Tifu Lukwago v Samwiri Mudde Kizza & Another (Civil Appeal No. 13 of 1996)
  • Fam International Ltd & Another v Mohamed Hamird El-Fatih (Civil Appeal No. 16 of 1993)
  • Zaabwe v Orient Bank & 5 Others (Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2006)
  • Zaabwe v Orient Bank (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 4 of 2009)
  • Kampala Land Board & Another v Venansio Babweyaka & Others (Civil Appeal No. 2 of 2007)
  • Bryant Powis and Bryant Ltd and La Banque Du Peuple and The Quebec Bank (1893) PC House of Lords

Full judgment

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Rajabali Valimohamed Vaiya & Ors v General Parts (U) Ltd (Civil Suit No. 570 of 2002) [2014] UGHCLD 39 (30 November 2014)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.