Raheem Olabanji, a tenant, has written a letter of demand against Johnny Rowuru, his landlord, asking him to reimburse him for the rent and commission fees he paid for an office space in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
The letter was submitted to the Yaba Magistrate’s Court.
Olusola Okuwobi, Olabanji’s lawyer, said that his client followed the landlord’s instructions and gave the landlord N600,000 and the agent N140,000 each.
Olabanji decided to vacate the office four months later, according to Okuwobi, who claimed that the landlord had refused to fix basic utilities in the building.
As a result, the claimant asked for the N740,000 refund.
During the examination-in-chief, Rowuru, led by his counsel, Bright Obaduemu, told the court that he had refunded the sum of N500,000 to Olabanji after he decided to terminate the tenancy agreement.
“After four months, he claimed he no longer wanted the place and I should refund his money,” he added. I promised to take away the sum according to the number of months he had used the shop. He objected and reported the incident to the police in Ajah.
“I sent my lawyer to represent me since I couldn’t be there. My lawyer informed me that the dispute had been settled and requested that I return N500,000. I received the account information, and I paid the N500,000 as directed. He initially claimed not to have received the funds, but afterwards claimed to have received N450,000. My account statement, however, indicated that I had sent N500,000.
