High Court Judge Musa Ssekana has ruled that landlords have a right to break into permanently locked tenant’s premises over unpaid rent.
In a ruling that will certainly cause anxiety among tenants, Justice Ssekana ruled that: “It is bad practice for the defaulting tenants to lock premises and expect the landlord to continue looking for them to unlock or remove the property which sometimes is valueless and only intended to inconvenience the landlord.”
The case was filed by Nyonyi Traders Ltd against DL Properties Ltd and businessman Francis Drake Lubega.
Nyonyi Traders Ltd submitted to Court that DL Properties LTD and businessman Drake Lubega broke into and converted their locked store, before reallocating it to another person.
In his response to Court, Businessman Drake Lubega, one of the biggest landlords in Kampala, argued that the store that had been rented out to Nyonyi Traders remained locked and attempts to contact the tenant were unsuccessful, forcing him as the Landlord to assign the store to a different tenant.
In his ruling, Justice Ssekana added that :” “Any landlord whose premises have been permanently locked by an absconding tenant who has not paid rent for such unreasonable time is at liberty to break into the premises and mitigate on the continued loss being occasioned to them.”
