CAMPBELL AND ANOTHER vs. MENSAH [1977]DLCA1298

Date	1977-03-01
Suit No.
Citation No.	[1977]DLCA1298

APALOO JA

LASSEY JA

KINGSLEY-NYINAH J.A.

MISS A. A. AYISI FOR THE APPELLANT.

BOAFO FOR THE RESPONDENT.

[1977]DLCA1298
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >CAMPBELL AND ANOTHER<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;vs. <o:p></o:p>MENSAH <o:p></o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p>[1977] 2 GLR 98<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE:
1 MARCH 1977<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

MISS A. A. AYISI FOR THE APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 0in 0in">

APALOO, LASSEY AND KINGSLEY-NYINAH
JJ.A.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>JUDGMENT OF KINGSLEY-NYINAH J.A.<o:p></o:p>Before
the commencement of this litigation, the respondent to this present petition
had been a tenant of many years standing, occupying a defined part of house No.
D.786/4, Granville Avenue, Accra, whose devisee-landlords were the
plaintiff-appellant and his other brothers.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The
accommodation occupied and enjoyed by the defendant- respondent was subject to
an original tenancy agreement which was to run for the determinate term of
“fifteen years with effect from 28 November 1949 with a further five-year option
at an agreed rent.” In or about 1964, the respondent was granted a renewal of
his tenancy for a further period of five years which ran out towards the latter
part of 1970.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Although
the tenancy under discussion covered two differing sets of accommodation (both
within the same premises, i.e. house No. D.786/4, Granville Avenue, Accra), a
residential apartment on the first floor, and a commercial one, on the ground,
the respondent offered and paid his rent regularly and in gross, without
arrear. That happy state of affairs continued until 1970, as aforesaid, when by
virtue of a notice to the respondent asking him to relinquish his possession of
the premises, the appellant declined to renew the tenancy for a further period
of five years. The respondent, needless to say, completely disregarded the
notice to quit and the outcome of his intransigence was the writ that set this
action in train. By it the landlords (the appellant and a brother of his who
saw no wisdom in appealing against the judgment of the trial circuit court)
jointly and severally claimed from the respondent:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“(a)
Recovery of possession of the sleeping accommodation and the commercial
accommodation occupied by the defendant as tenant in house No. D786/4,
Granville Avenue, Accra, and (b) Punitive damages for trespass.”<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>In
defence of his position, and in justification of his refusal to yield up his
possession and enjoyment of the premises in question, the respondent pressed
the point that his landlords were neither entitled to the recovery that they
sought, nor yet to any other reliefs. He seriously contended that the claim of
his landlords must be discountenanced because, at the institution of their
action, there had been in factual existence between them and him, an oral
agreement whereby they, as landlords, had freely elected and openly consented
to keep him on, as their tenant, for a further period of twenty years, in
consideration of his promise and deed to effect certain improvements to the
hereditaments. Not unnaturally, the appellant-landlord roundly denied the
existence, or currency, of any such oral understanding.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>I cannot
do better than to put in his own words the respondent’s reasons for so stoutly
opposing his landlord’s claims for ejectment and recovery of possession. He
said, in paragraphs (4), (5) and (6) of his statement of defence:<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">“(4)
Before the lease expired the first plaintiff told the defendant that he had
found him (the defendant) to be a good tenant and that if the defendant would
like his lease to be renewed for a further term of twenty years he the
plaintiff and his brothers would be prepared to do so, but on condition that:
(a) as from 1 January 1969 the recoverable rent would be increased from
N¢144.00 per annum to N¢192.00 per annum, (b) the rent would be payable one
year in advance and not monthly as before, and (c) that the defendant would be
solely responsible for repairs and renovations of the demised premises.<o:p></o:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt;
margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;mso-pagination:none;border:none;mso-padding-alt:
31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;mso-border-shadow:yes">