Unlawful Eviction: Court Orders Landlady To Pay Tenant N.2m

A Lagos magistrate’s court, sitting at Ikeja, has ordered an Abule-Egba based landlady, Alhaja Adenike Bolanle Sonde to pay N200,000 to a tenant she forcefully ejected.

Senior magistrate Mr. K.O. Ogundare who gave the order in a considered judgment also ordered that the tenant, Mrs. Adepeju Bailey, be restored forthwith in her shop at 41, Ekoro Road, Abule Egba and restrained the landlady, her agents, servants or privies from further harassing, closure of her shop or forcefully ejecting her without going through due process of the law.

Chief Magistrate Ogundare fined Alhaja Sonde N5,000 to be paid to Mrs. Bailey as costs of bringing the suit against her.

Magistrate Ogundare noted that Alhaja Sonde was served with the processes of the court as evidenced by the proof of service sworn to by the Sheriff of the High Court of Lagos State and tendered before the court, but that she never appeared in court, consequent upon which Mrs. Bailey proceeded to prove her case.

In her evidence-in-chief, Mrs. Bailey stated that she rented the shop and has remained there since 2007, without any problem and that Alhaja Sonde ejected her from the shop and put another person there, when she still had seven months rent subsisting and her properties worth N152,000 were missing till date.

She further told the court that Alhaja Sonde immediately put another tenant in the shop and till date, she has refused or could not give useful information of where her goods are when she reported to the police at Oke-Odo police station, Abule-Egba.

Magistrate Ogundare in his judgment said: “After I carefully considered the evidence before the court and after I have been convinced that Alhaja Sonde has been served with the processes of this court but she has chosen not to defend the case, I am satisfied that Mrs. Bailey is entitled to judgment as per her claims upon minimal proof, Alhaja Sonde not having shown any good cause to the contrary.”