Angwenyi v Bujra [2025] KEBPRT 267 (KLR)

Angwenyi v Bujra (Tribunal Case E197 of 2024) [2025] KEBPRT 267 (KLR) (24 April 2025) (Ruling)

Neutral citation: [2025] KEBPRT 267 (KLR)

Republic of Kenya

In the Business Premises Rent Tribunal

Tribunal Case E197 of 2024

CN Mugambi, Chair

April 24, 2025

Between

Vavan Joan Angwenyi

Tenant

and

Ahmed Said Bujra

Landlord

Ruling

Introduction 1. The Tenant’s Application dated 24. 2.2025 seeks orders that the Tenant be allowed an extension of time to pay the decretal sum in this matter by a further seventy days. The Tenant therefore seeks further orders that the execution of the Tribunal’s orders be stayed and that he be allowed quiet possession and occupation of the suit premises.

The Tenant’s depositions 2. The Tenant has filed an Affidavit sworn on 24. 2.2025 wherein she has deponed that the court had directed her to pay all the rent arrears within sixty (60) days.

3. The Tenant has also deponed that her business has been slow and affected by unprecedented circumstances which have led her to source for and obtain an International grant which will come through by end of May 2025.

4. The Tenant further depones that her Landlord has entered her business premises in the guise of collecting rent which in the Tenant’s view is illegal and against the Constitutional rights of the Tenant.

5. That the Tenant is keen on clearing her rent arrears and has issued postdated cheques and in any event will be able to settle the whole amount in seventy days.

The Landlord’s depositions 6. The replying affidavit of the Respondent may be summarized as follows;-a.That the Tenant’s Application is fatally defective for non-disclosure of the provisions of the Law under which it is brought.b.That the court is functus officio.c.That the Application has been made after an undue delay even as the Judgment allowed her sixty (60) days to make good the payment.d.That it is now over ninety (90) days since the Judgment was read and the instant Application is intended to delay the Respondent from receiving that which is legally due to him.e.That on 18. 2.2025, the Tenant paid Kshs. 100,000/= instead of an agreed sum of Kshs. 500,000/=.f.That the Tenant’s business has been booming and especially during the tourism peak season around November.g.That no evidence has been adduced to back the allegations of international donors granting the Tenant any financial accommodation.h.That rent continues to accumulate and the rent arrears now stand at Kshs. 705,000/=. Further, the alleged postdated cheques have not been presented to the Landlord save for the Kshs. 100,000/= paid as aforesaid.

Analysis and determination 7. The only issue that arises for determination is whether the Tenant is entitled to the prayer sought in her Application.

8. The Tenant basically seeks an order that the time for finalizing the payment of her rent arrears be extended by a period of seventy days from 24. 2.2025. That would mean that the Tenant would pay her rent arrears on or before 3. 05. 2025.

9. The Tenant has deponed that her business has been slow and has been affected by unprecedented circumstances leading her to seek assistance from International partners and which assistance she got. The Tenant has not disclosed the unprecedented circumstances that her business has faced and neither has she produced any evidence of the International grant she alleges to have secured. The Tenant had earlier on in her supplementary affidavit sworn on 26. 9.2024 at paragraph 6 thereof deponed as follows;-“That according to paragraph 10 of the Replying affidavit, the Landlord does not intend to have me evicted, I intend to clear the outstanding arrears in three (3) installments starting 17. 10. 2024. “The Tenant did not pay the rent installments in the three installments that she had promised and even after the court in its Ruling allowed the Tenant sixty (60) days from 7. 11. 2024 to clear her rent arrears, she failed to do so.

10. The Tenant’s further request for a period of seventy (70) days to clear her rent arrears is not backed by any genuine concern on the part of the Tenant to clear her rent arrears. Her past undertakings have not borne any fruits and as I have stated above, the Tenant has not even demonstrated that any International grant is forthcoming.

11. The rent in this matter continues to accrue, the Tenant on her part continues to occupy the suit premises without paying rent. I do not think in the circumstances of this case the Tenant has demonstrated any grounds upon which I can review the orders made by the Tribunal on November 7, 2025.

12. Consequently, the Application by the Tenant is dismissed with costs to the Landlord.

DATED, SIGNED AND DELIVERED VIRTUALLY AT NAIROBI THIS 24THDAY OF APRIL 2025. HON. CYPRIAN MUGAMBICHAIRPERSONBUSINESS PREMISES RENT TRIBUNALDelivered in the presence of Mr. Soita for the Landlord and in the absence of the Applicant and Counsel