Man sells house as wife goes to court
A woman in Buruburu Phase 1 estate risks becoming homeless after her husband sold their matrimonial home.
Beatrice Imbweya Alumasi and her children were still in occupation when her husband Mr Gerald Alumasi transferred the maisonette’s ownership to another couple, Mr Charles Ngirubiu and Mrs Esther Waithera Karanja.
Theirs was a promising and a happy marriage under the Luhyia customary Laws. They have lived together as husband and wife for 12 years in the house and have four children.
The maisonette, sold for Sh7.2 million has a main house and an extension which comprises three units (servant quarters). Mrs Imbweya has been collecting approximately Sh40,000 monthly rent.
Redeeming a loan
The High Court allowed the buyers to start collecting rent from the extensions pending determination of the case.
The buyers said they were servicing a mortgage loan obtained from Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HFCK) and paid to Mr Alumasi in exchange for the house.
They argued that Mrs Imbweya had refused to vacate the main house and was illegally collecting rent from the extensions when the house had already changed ownership and her husband had agreed that the house would be vacant after sale.
“My husband and I are incurring losses by paying a mortgage loan for a property which we do not occupy or collect rental income,” said Mrs Waithera in her court papers.
On his part, Mr Alumasi said the house never belonged to his estranged wife given that it was acquired by him through a mortgage loan from the Kenya National Assurance Company (2001) Ltd.
He claimed his wife refused to share rental income from the extensions exposing him to constant harassment from the financiers.
“I was compelled to sell the house to redeem the loan advanced to me,” he said.
Mrs Imbweya on her part said the house was acquired during the their marriage.
“It is a matrimonial property and I also have a stake together with the children. It should not be sold without our consent,” she said.
She said she was sickly and jobless and that her income had been paralysed by the order to surrender ownership and control of the extensions. She said the sale of the house was unlawful.