A Nairobi court has ordered a real estate developer to immediately transfer a luxury town house to two buyers who fully paid the purchase price.
The Environment and Land Court found that Ramji Naran Patel and Amrat Ramji Patel had fully paid the Sh40 million purchase price for the house in Peponi View.
The house was among 11 others that Greenview Developers Limited had entered into a joint venture to build on Peponi Road. Greenview engaged Elemech Engineering Limited to supply construction materials for the development, eventually accruing a debt of nearly Sh39 million.
Following negotiations, Sh22 million of this debt was assigned to the first plaintiff—Ramji—a director at the engineering firm, to be used as part of the house purchase price. In June 2014, the defendant entered into a sale agreement with the plaintiffs for the townhouse at a price of Sh40 million.
The plaintiffs paid a deposit of Sh10 million, a further Sh8 million and an additional Sh1 million, with the assigned Sh22 million debt covering the balance.
“The plaintiffs have set out the particulars of breach of contract against the defendant and contend that despite full performance of their obligations under the Agreement for Sale, the defendant has neglected, refused and/or failed to register and transfer the sublease in favour of the plaintiffs,” the court heard.
Despite fully performing their obligations, the defendant refused to transfer the sublease and on February 17, 2025, unlawfully attempted to terminate the contract.
According to court documents, although Greenview was served with court summons, the company failed to respond or file a defence within the required time.
As a result, court documents stated that the case proceeded undefended. Despite being notified of the date, the developer failed to attend court or participate in the proceedings.
“The plaintiffs submitted that the documentary evidence produced, together with the testimony of the first plaintiff, sufficiently established the existence of a valid sale agreement, full payment of the purchase price and the defendant’s breach arising from its refusal to transfer and register the suit property in favour of the plaintiffs.”
In his judgment, Justice Mohammed Kullow found that the plaintiffs had proven their case and were entitled to the reliefs sought.
"Equity demands that the defendant should not be permitted to retain both the purchase price and the suit property to the prejudice of the plaintiffs who fully performed their obligations under the agreement," the judge ruled.
“In the court’s view, such conduct amounted to a fundamental breach of the sale agreement by the defendant.”
He noted that land is unique and damages alone could not adequately compensate the family.
“An Order of Specific Performance be and is hereby issued compelling the defendant to transfer and register Town House Number 2 in Peponi View, Nairobi, on Land Reference Number 1870/VIII/120 in favour of the plaintiffs in accordance with the Agreement for Sale dated June 6, 2014.”
A permanent injunction was also issued to prevent the developer from selling or interfering with the town house. Greenview was ordered to pay all legal costs incurred by the plaintiffs.
