MARTIN NANTWI & ANOR vs REDROW DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED & ORS
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP K. A. GYIMAH JUSTICE OF THE HIGH COURT
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Martin and Jennifer Nantwi sued Redrow Development Ltd. and administrators Alfred Nii Quartey-Papafio, Joseph Kwate Quartey-Papafio, and Ernestina Kwakor Quartey-Papafio after discovering a double sale of land at Quartey-Papafio Hills, Santeo, Tema. The Nantwis paid Redrow (acting as agent for the administrators) and received a Deed of Assignment, took possession, and built a perimeter wall. A later search showed the land had been assigned to Herman Ofori-Amankwa. The High Court, per K. A. Gyimah J., held Redrow was an agent for disclosed principals and not personally liable; none of the exceptions to agent liability applied. The court found the grant covered 0.256 acres (about 1.5 plots), rejected the unproven GH20,000 wall cost, and determined the administrators breached the implied covenant of right to convey under the Conveyancing Act. It ordered them to replace the land within three months or refund its present market value as assessed by the Lands Commissions Land Valuation Division and awarded costs to the plaintiffs.
Plaintiffs’ Case
By a writ of summons issued on 30th January, 2018, the plaintiffs claimed the following reliefs against the defendants: i. An order for specific performance of the agreement to sell to plaintiffs two plots of land at Quartey-Papafio Hills, Santeo, Tema.
OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE
i. An order for payment of sums equivalent to the present value of two plots of land at Quartey-Papafio Hills, Santeo, Tema.
ii. Payment of the sum of GH¢20, 000 being the cost incurred in constructing a sandcrete wall around the perimeter of the land assigned to plaintiff by defendants.
iii. General Damages.
iv. Cost
The plaintiffs are a married couple and it is their case that sometime in the year 2009, the 1st defendant, a real estate company, represented to them that it had lands available for sale at a place popularly known as Quartey-Papafio Hills, Santeo, Tema.
Subsequent to that representation, the plaintiffs expressed interest in acquiring two plots of land and this led to the parties executing a Sale and Purchase Agreement whereby the 1st defendant contracted to sell two plots of land at the said Quartey-Papafio Hills to the plaintiffs.
Pursuant to the agreement, the plaintiffs assert that they made payment for the two plots of land to the 1st defendant who issued a receipt in its corporate name evidencing the payment.
According to the plaintiffs, the 1st defendant purportedly acted as an agent in respect of the said agreement, for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants who are the administrators of the estate of their late father Benjamin Quartey-Papafio.
Plaintiffs maintain that the Chief Executive Officer of 1st defendant Company by name Chris Aryeetey represented to them that the 1st defendant was partnering with 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants in the transaction.
Plaintiffs also contend that they conducted a search on the land at the Land Title Registry and the result showed that the land was registered in the names of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants.
Plaintiffs state that by a Deed of Assignment dated 14th May 2010 executed between the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants on one hand and the plaintiffs on the other hand, the two plots of land were duly assigned to them.
They then took possession of the land and constructed a sandcrete wall around the perimeters of the land at a cost of GH¢20, 000. 00. Plaintiffs further state that their attempt to register their interest at the Land Title Registry could not materialise as they discovered that the same parcel