The High Court yesterday ordered a real estate company to respond to the suit filed by its three US-based clients in a dispute over Sh15.5 million within 14 days.
Justice Lucy Mbugua directed Certified Home Ltd, its two directors Lilian Oketch and Dennis Oketch to file their response in the case seeking a financial refund amounting to Sh15.5 million within 14 days.
The defendants are hereby directed to file their response within 14 days failure to which the will enter judgment in favour of the plaintiffs,” said the judge.
The court heard that Certified Homes Limited allegedly duped Kenya Women In USA by breaching a contract it had entered. The contract was to construct an ultra gated residential home for its clients.
The plaintiffs namely Elizabeth Wangari Green, Caroline Ongito and Eddah Wanjiku Kimani through their lawyer Victor Arika said the Certified Homes Limited them from the beginning of 2022 and made and arrangement for development of an off-plan designed gated estate called KWITU (Kenyan Women in the USA) Gardens Phase 2 which was exclusively meant for members specifically targeted for purchase of houses by family investors in the United States of America, among others.
The plaintiffs averred that the defendants totally ignored the clarity of land ownership from the beginning and failed to respond to the complainant’s concerns as the written contract made the purported parcels of land not lawfully owned by the two Directors Dennis Oketch and Lilian Oketch of the company. The documents also revealed that the company in construction used building materials with no known source of manufacturing with finishing such as tiles and cabinets, among others, compared to what they used in advertising videos and pictures.
Lilian and Dennis are also accused of failing to provide the complainants with architectural plans, construction, and architectural approvals from the county government contrary to information by advertisement that the property had water and electricity at the site.
The director allegedly promised that the house units can be sold between Sh9 million to $12 million without evidence to support that estimate, which was a misleading way and tactic of attracting more investors/purchasers.
