GEORGE OSEI AKWASI v. ALEX KWASI ADJEI & OTHERS
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- Honyenuga J.A. (Presiding)
- Torkornoo, J. A.
- Gaisie J.A
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Contract Law
- Evidence Law
- Civil Procedure
- Tort Law
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal (per Gertrude Torkornoo J.A., with Honyenuga J.A. presiding and Ama A. Gaisie J.A. concurring) reviewed a land dispute over House No. C580/14/C625/14 in Dzorwulu, Accra. Appellant, the undisputed owner, left Ghana for the Netherlands; in his absence, 1st Respondent—described as caretaker/houseboy by Appellant and as a friend by himself—demolished Appellant’s one‑storey house and built a 23‑room hostel, installed tenants, and asserted exclusive control, claiming oral consent and loan financing. The High Court granted title to Appellant but upheld 1st Respondent’s counterclaims (including a perpetual injunction and investment recovery). On appeal, the court held the judgment was perverse and against the weight of evidence: 1st Respondent had at most a contractual license, not a proprietary interest; loan documents were not proof of construction cost; and burden principles were misapplied. The Court affirmed Appellant’s title, set aside the counterclaims, ordered accounts within 30 days, granted unconditional entry, directed tenants to attorn, awarded GHȼ60,000 general and GHȼ40,000 special damages, granted a perpetual injunction restraining 1st Respondent, and awarded GHȼ10,000 costs.
J U D G M E N T
TORKORNOO, J. A:
This is an appeal from the high court, land division, Accra. The Plaintiff/Appellant and 1st Defendant/Respondent agreed that they had a close relationship for more than a decade before the facts that led to this dispute occurred. While the Appellant described the 1st Respondent as his houseboy and caretaker of his property, the 1st Respondent described himself as a friend to the Appellant. The other Respondents are tenants in the subject matter of the dispute.
It was undisputed in the high court that the land with building known as House No C580/14, Dzorwulu belongs to the Appellant. It was also not contested that the Appellant had a one-storey building on the land as at 2007. It is also not contested that by 2010, the Appellant’s house had been pulled down by the 1st Respondent. In it’s place, the 1st Respondent had constructed a hostel comprising 23 rooms. He did this in the absence of the Appellant who was then living in the Netherlands.
It is the destruction of Appellant’s house and construction of the hostel thereon by 1st Respondent, and the taking over of the land with the new building by 1st Respondent that led to this dispute.
What was contested in the dispute was whether the Appellant authorized the 1st Respondent to pull down his building and construct the hostel, and whether the 1st Respondent should be allowed to remain in exclusive control of the hostel and collect rents from it to set off the cost of the construction.
It was the case of the Appellant that when he travelled to Ghana from the Netherlands some time in 2010 and found that his house had been pulled down, a hostel constructed in its stead and tenants in the building, he tried to locate the 1st Respondent who had been the caretaker for the building. The 1st Respondent had gone into hiding. According to the Appellant, he had not consented to the demolition and rebuilding of his house, and he searched for the 1st Respondent to account for this state of affairs. He reported the 1st Respondent to the police, and again sued him at the Kaneshie district court for recovery of possession of the house.
The judgment obtained from the Kaneshie court was later set aside and he commenced this new case in the high court for the following reliefs:
a. An order declaring in favour of Plaintiff title to all that piece or parcel of land more particularly described in the Schedule attached hereto and that Plaintiff is the bona fide owner of House No. C625/14,