SULEMANA RASHID IDDRISU VS ELITE PROPERTIES LIMITED
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP OLIVIA OBENG OWUSU, (MRS) J.
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Evidence Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Civil Procedure
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The plaintiff sued for the recovery of the purchase price, refunded rent and damages for breach of contract, claiming structural defects rendered the apartment uninhabitable. The court found the plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence, including expert testimony, of structural defects and no breach of contract was proven. The court emphasized principles of burden of proof, implied terms in property sales, and the importance of professional testimony, relying on case law and statutes. The Plaintiff’s claim was dismissed, and costs were awarded to the Defendant.
By this action the Plaintiff’s Claim against the Defendant is for
a. An order for the recovery of purchase price of the property with interest at the prevailing bank rate from the date the money was paid to the defendant to the date of final payment
b. An order for the recovery from the defendant the rent refunded to tenant with interest thereon.
c. Damages for breach of contract d. Any further order the court may deem fit.
Alternatively, the Plaintiff also claims from the Defendant“An order directed at and compelling the Defendant to replace and assign to the Plaintiff a different apartment within the building with the same market value and specifications as the one paid for by the Plaintiff within 7 days of Judgment.
a. An order for the recovery from the defendant the rent refunded to tenant with interest thereon b. Damages for breach of contract.
c. Any further order the Court may deem fit. ”The case of the plaintiff as disclosed in his pleadings is this: The Defendant is a limited liability company carrying on the business of real estate development in Ghana.
It developed for sale some residential apartments at Airport West Residential Area in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.
The said apartments were within an eight floor storey building block which is situate on Plot No. 7 Airport West. On or about October 2013 pursuant to an agreement with the Defendant he purchased one apartment from the Defendant on the ground floor at the cost of Two Hundred and Twenty Thousand United States Dollars (USD $220, 000. 00). By the agreement and the subsequent payment for the property he became the owner by way of sale and subsequently took possession and control over the property by letting it out to his tenant one Finella Morrisson who moved into occupation of the property.
He was informed by his tenant some few months after she moved into occupation of the property that she had encountered several recurrent challenges and defects in the apartment which made the property inhabitable and unfit for occupation as a residential property.
He instructed the tenant to bring the challenges to the attention of the management of the Defendant which she did.
Upon lodging the complaint, the Defendant attempted fixing the problems only for the problems to recur in various forms. Sometime in 2014 there was repeated flooding of the kitchen and bathroom areas of the apartment due to leakages in the sewage/drainage system.
The result of the leakages in the sewage was th