Karanja has been a tenant in Wamalwa’s house for the last three months. The parties had executed a lease for a period of one year. However, Wamalwa is aggrieved as Karanja has broken all the doors in the house following several fights with his wife. Wamalwa now seeks your advice on the various ways in which he may terminate the lease agreement and lawfully evict Karanja. Advise Wamalwa.

Karanja has been a tenant in Wamalwa’s house for the last three months. The parties had executed a lease for a period of one year. However, Wamalwa is aggrieved as Karanja has broken all the doors in the house following several fights with his wife.

Wamalwa now seeks your advice on the various ways in which he may terminate the lease agreement and lawfully evict Karanja.

Advise Wamalwa.

ANSWER

This problem is based on the ways in which the landlord or lessor may terminate a lease:
Lapse of time: wait for effluxion of the duration prescribed.
Forfeiture: Wamalwa is entitled to re-enter the premises to determine the lease pre-maturely reason of Karanja’s breach.

Mr. Karanja signed blank cheques and left them with his wife to draw cash while he was away attending to business affairs. Mrs Karanja instructed Hatari, a clerk in the firm of Karanja and Karanja Associates to fill in the cheques. Hatari filled in the amount leaving a gap after the words “Sh.” and wrote the amount in words from the middle of the line without using a capital letter. Hatari showed the cheques to Mrs Karanja written “Sh. 50,000” and fifty thousand only.” He was authorized to encash the cheque. However before presenting the cheque for payment Hatari added figure “3” to the amount in figures and “three hundred” in the words. He encashed the chequed for Sh. 350,000. He then gave Mrs. Karanja Sh. 50,000 only. These facts have come to light after Hatari’s resignation and Mr. Karanja intends to sue his bankers. Advise the bank.
Mrs. Karanja and Mrs. Waithaka are neighbours. Their sons, Mwaura Karanja and Mwangi Waithaka, had a fight and Mwangi was hurt. In annoyance, Mrs. Waithaka hurled a stone at Mrs. Karanja but the stone did not hit Mrs. Karanja. Mrs. Waithaka rushed to her house and came out with a bucket of water which she splashed on Mrs. Karanja making her clothes wet. Mrs. Karanja intends to sue Mrs. Waithaka. Advise Mrs. Karanja on the kinds of tort that she may seek redress from.
Ways through which a lease might be terminated
Stanley leased his house at Highlands Gardens to Oliver. The lease agreement was signed both parties and the lease was to run for a period of two years. Stanley has been having domestic problems with his wife. Recently, Stanley’s wife stormed into the premises lease to Oliver and threatened to evict him and his family if they did not vacate the leased premises. Oliver has not breached any of the terms of the lease agreement and is aggrieved. Advise Oliver on his legal rights and the remedies available to him.
The shares of Promotion Limited, a private company are held members of three families, that is, the family of Mr. Karanja, Mr. Mutisya and Mr. Otieno. Mr. Karanja and Mr. Mutisya hold 90% of the company‟s shares. However, they feel that, the company is in need of further capital but due to the squabbles among the families, Mr. Otieno is not willing to inject additional funds so long as Mr. Karanja still holds any shares in the company. Further, Mr. Karanja and Mr. Mutisya have reasonable cause to believe and do in fact believe that the family of Mr. Otiengo is running their own business which is competing with that of Promotion Limited. It is known as a fact that Mr. Otieno is obtaining information as a member of Promotion Limited, which he is using to the benefit of his competing business. To resolve the problems, Mr. Karanja and Mr. Mutisya propose to alter the company‟s articles of association adding two new articles. The first article will enable the shareholders of 90% of the company‟s shares to compulsorily acquire the shares of the minority shareholder. The second one will require any shareholder who carries on competing business with company‟s business to transfer his shares to the nominee of the directors. Required: i) State the restrictions imposed both common law and statute law upon a company’s power to alter its articles of association ii) Discuss the validity of the proposed alteration
Summarise the implied convenants a landlord in a lease agreement

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