Nairobi businessman seeks court order to stop auction of his property over rent arrears

Nairobi businessman John Kinyua has moved to the High Court to stop a landlord and auctioneers from seizing his property over what he calls disputed rent arrears.

Kinyua, the managing director of his company, says that on October 28, 2022, the landlord offered him a lease for premises at No. 1762/24, Nairobi CBD. The lease required a monthly rent of Ksh.170,000 inclusive of VAT, along with a goodwill payment of Ksh.2.5 million.

According to Kinyua, he accepted the lease on November 4, 2022 and has been paying the rent consistently through bank transfers or M-PESA to the landlord’s director. Despite this, he claims the landlord has overcharged him and is now demanding Ksh.749,600 as arrears, plus Ksh.75,000 in auctioneer fees.

“The alleged rent arrears are baseless. In fact, I have overpaid and am owed a total of Ksh.1,274,845,” reads the affidavit.

He further notes that the landlord ignored previous court orders directing the parties to pursue mediation before taking action.

Through a notice of motion, Kinyua is asking the court to certify the application as urgent and hear it ex parte, cite the landlord for contempt of court for disregarding mediation orders, and issue an interim injunction restraining the landlord, auctioneers and their agents from seizing or selling any property on the leased premises until the matter is resolved.

He also seeks to maintain the status quo until the substantive suit is determined and to have the costs of the application provided for.

The court in its orders, directed that the application is not certified urgent and that an inter partes hearing will be held on March 12, 2026.