MRS AKUA BAA BAAFI v. MR. ALFRED ABOTSI
2025
DISTRICT COURT
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
2025
DISTRICT COURT
AI Generated Summary
The court had to decide on the ownership and possession of a shop between the plaintiff and the defendant. The plaintiff argued her rightful ownership and faced arrears due to the defendant’s non-payments. The defendant disputed the plaintiff’s claim, citing an agreement with the property’s caretaker. The court found in favor of the plaintiff, declaring her the rightful owner and granting her recovery of possession and ejectment of the defendant.
The plaintiff applied for an order of possession of shop number E36/322 and rent arrears against the defendant at the Weija Rent Office on 8th June 2022. Both parties appeared before the Senior Rent Manager sitting at the Rent Office on 10th January 2023. The Senior Rent Manager found that the tenancy of the defendant expired on 30th June 2022 and even though he had been served with a six-month ejection notice to quit the premises by 31st
December 2022, he had failed to vacate from the premises. Defendant pleaded for time to vacate from the premises and as a result the Senior Rent Manager ordered defendant to vacate the premises by 30th June 2023. On 3rd July 2023, defendant was still in occupation of the premises compelling the Senior Rent Manager to refer the matter to this court
pursuant to Form 9, regulation 13 of the Rent Regulation 1946 (LI 369) for an effective order to be issued under section 17(1)(g) of the Rent Act 1963 (Act 220) to eject defendant
from the premises forthwith and make such order as to costs or in connection with the proceedings.
Defendant filed a defence on 22nd August 2023. Plaintiff filed a reply to defendant’s defence on 12th September 2023.
THE CASE OF PLAINTIFF
It is the case of the plaintiff that sometime in the year 2006, she rented shop number E36/322 the subject matter of this dispute from the Ghana Industrial and Commercial Estates Limited (GICEL) to operate a business under the business name Makenzie Enterprise.
It is the further case of the plaintiff that throughout the time she kept the shop, she paid rent regularly to GICEL.
She added that during a period when she could not operate the shop in 2009, Emmanuel Manful a driver to her husband who was then working with GICEL approached her to let out the shop. Without notice to her, he let out the shop to the defendant whom she did not know personally. She has since then consistently asked Emmanuel Manful to eject the defendant from her shop.
According to her, for the period that the defendant occupied the shop, he did not pay rent regularly for the shop either to GICEL or to her even though she had asked Emmanuel Manful to have him pay for the use of the shop to GICEL in order to prevent the accumulation of rent or debt in her business name.
She averred that she was surprised when GICEL sent her a letter dated March 31, 2022 demanding an outstanding rent of GHC6,412.51 and threatening to eject her from the shop by the end of April 2022 for nonpayment of rent.