Etaghene Edirin
15 November 2009
For occupants of the nine-storey building known as Prince's Court on Victoria Island, life is now one bag of hardship, inconveniencies and uncertainty.
For several weeks now, they have had to make do without electricity as the generating plant that hitherto serves the building has been disconnected, throwing the building into darkness. Those living on the top most floors have to climb the steps several times everyday as the elevator no longer functions because of the power outage.
Tenants have resorted to buying individual generating sets to provide electricity supply to their separate apartments thus generating noise. To further compound their problems, the landlord has relocated the giant generating set from its former position behind the building and placed it just behind one of the entrance gates.
The only other entrance gate and car park space has a pile of sand and blocks strategically placed close to it that prevents cars from driving into the compound. Occupants allege, is in an effort by the landlord to forcefully evict them from the house.
Even the security personnel they are used to have been allegedly withdrawn with a new set engaged.
The nine-storey building, which investigations show belongs to Prince Samuel Adedoyin, chairman and chief executive officer, Doyin Group of Companies consists of 65 serviced apartments.
The tenants claim they have been performing their obligations in the building, including the payment of rental and service charges. Each apartment pays an average annual rent of N1.2m (one million two hundred thousand naira) and service charge of N400,000, totaling N1.6m. Service charge covers lift maintenance, water, security, cleaners, generator and waste disposal.
Sunday Champion investigations revealed that trouble began when sometime in January 2009 the tenants were informed by the estate managers, RCO Property that the rent is to be reviewed upwards from N800, 000 to N1.2m and service charge from N200, 000 to N400, 000.
One of the tenants told Sunday Champion that they sent emissaries to the landlord with a view to negotiating an acceptable rate but to no avail. Thereafter, a quit notice was served on all the tenants, although some had paid the new rate which expires in 2010.
Then in July they got another letter from RCO together with a structural engineer's report claiming that there were some noticeable cracks on the eighth floor of the building and as a result, all tenants should vacate the building for load tests to be carried out on the building.
Realising that this may be a ploy by the landlord to forcefully evict them from their apartments, the tenants engaged the services of another structural engineer to determine the state of the building. According to expert's report, the noticeable cracks in the building were not from the foundation and that same would not lead to the collapse of the building.
It was alleged that the building was originally of eight floors, but that another floor was recently added to it by the landlord. The noticed cracks by both engineers were from those parts of the building.
Our source also said that despite payment of service charge, the landlord and RCO introduced a monthly levy on all residents towards maintaining the structures in the building. Even with this, that they have been virtually running and maintaining the building.
In September an abatement of nuisance notice was posted conspicuously on parts of the building by officials of the Eti-Osa Local Government, Iru-Victoria Island Development area. Since the landlord and agents had taken on an unusually silence and nonchalant attitude, tenants levied each other and moved to abate some of the nuisance enumerated by the notice.
If they thought they had abated the evil day, they were again surprised when in October, officials of the Lagos state Physical Planning and Development Authority posted a quit notice on the walls of the building asking them to vacate it within seven days. Meanwhile, the tenants had alleged that a group of expatriates were putting pressure on the landlord to rent the whole building to them at mouth-watering rate, hence the desperation to evict the present occupants.
Based on this latest act, the tenants filed for an order of interlocutory injunction at the magistrate court to restrain Prince Adedoyin, RCO, Lagos Physical Planning and Development Authority and the Eti-Osa Local Government, Iru-Victoria Island development area from forcefully evicting or ejecting them from Prince's Court within the said period, or anytime thereafter, unless by due process of law pending the hearing and final determination of the suit.
They are also seeking the court among other things to compel Prince Adedoyin and RCO to abate the nuisance mentioned by the abatement of nuisance notice issued to them, as well as follow the due process of law as stipulated in the recovery of premises edict in evicting tenants.
When the case came up for hearing the first day, none of the defendants were present in court as they had not been served with the notice. The presiding judge then fixed another date for its hearing
When contacted, solicitor for Prince Adedoyin, Mr. Wale Adewoye said he was not aware of the case in court as neither he nor his client had been served. He also said that he is not aware nor in support of any unlawful means being used to evict tenants from any property.
On the generating set, sand and blocks placed strategically at the gates to the premises, Adewoye said the issues had been resolved at a meeting with the Lagos state commissioner of police.
While stating that he is not aware of any move to let the building to expatriates, Adewoye explained that they had received a complaint from a female tenant who occupies two suites in the building of noticed cracks. This he said was what led the landlord to commission an engineer who advised that the tenants be evacuated for further tests to be conducted.
He assured that due process will be followed as he also had filed a motion in court to that effect stating that he hopes the matter would be resolved amicably without rancour.
Mr. Ndubuisi Mordi of RCO Property also refuted the allegation that the tenants were being evicted from the building because there were some expatriates ready to take it over. He said the building has cracks which were reported by the engineers commissioned by the Landlord.
He said he is not aware that the tenants also commissioned an independent structural engineer who reported that the building is not in danger of collapsing as reported by the first engineer.
On obligations of the landlord to the tenants which had been ignored for sometime now, Mordi said the generating set had developed a malfunction a year ago and that it could not be put in order because the tenants were not paying their rent and service charges.
Asked why it was placed at the entrance to the compound and other obstacles that had also been so placed, he, like Adewoye said the issues had been resolved by the police and that steps were being taken to redress the situation.
Mr. Mordi also assured that due process will be followed in evicting the tenants from the building.
However, at the time of filing in this report, the obstacles had not been cleared and electricity and other facilities yet to be restored to the building. This is even as the business occupants claim they have been unable to conduct their businesses and that they have lost a number of their clienteles to the competition. They said they have suffered untold hardship, inconvenience and loss due to the actions of the landlord and his agent.
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