Tenants Drag Landlord To Court, Demand N36m To Honor Quit Notice

A high court sitting in Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State, has adjourned to 23rd, 24th February and 8th March, 2022, for continued hearing in a suit filed by one Evangelist Benjamin Ubakaeze and his wife, Felicia against their landlords Registered Trustees of Diocese on the Niger and Rev. Tochukwu Okwuchukwu.

Ubakaeze and his wife are tenants of the Diocese on the Niger, owned by Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital, Ogidi, Idemili where they own a provision store and eatery since 2014.

Their landlords gave them a quit notice, stating that they needed the premises for an expansion project in the hospital.

However, Ubakaeze has refused to honor the quit notice stating that they have an agreement of a 30-year lease with the Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital Management which started in 2014 and will end in 2044.

He also informed the court that prior to occupying the premises, it was a dumpsite with rubbles and debris from the construction work on the Old Onitsha Awka Road, Ubakaeze.

Ubakaeze maintained that they spent a huge amount of money cleaning up the premises and making renovations.

The couple refused to honor the quit notice and maintained that if they were to vacate the premises they would be paid N36 million by the trustee and the management of the hospital as money they used in developing the facility over time and the profit they ought to have made form 2024 to 2044 if not ejected from the facility.