Family goes to court over sale of house

A FAMILY which had gone to court over the sale of the family house has been told to sort out the matter at home.
Deputy Chief Justice Gibbs Salika said the case of the father selling the house without consulting the wife and their five children was better sorted out at home rather than in the National Court.
Plaintiff, Sharon Sere, had disputed the sale and had taken her husband, Robin Sere, and the house buyer to court.
“I do not know what is going on in that family … the plaintiff, her defendant husband and children must sort this matter out first between themselves,” Justice Salika said in his ruling last Wednesday.
Justice Salika also said: “The plaintiff’s amended originating summons does not allege any fraud on the part of the first defendant as to how he obtained the title to the property.”
“There is nothing in this action that compels me to add Agnes Hane Mai (the third-party purchaser of the house) as a defendant to the proceedings,” he said.
The matter came before the court in a notice of motion filed on May 13, when Mrs Sere sought court orders that  Ms Mai be joined as a party to these proceedings as a defendant.
It arose as a result of a sale of property described as allotment 20, section 8, Hohola, National Capital District.
The property was formerly owned by the National Housing Corporation which transferred the title to Mr Sere on Oct 5  last year under the home ownership scheme which encouraged tenants to buy the homes they lived in.
Under that scheme, Mr Sere’s mother Vagi Kioti (now deceased) was the “sitting tenant” of the property which he secured the title of in October last year.
But soon after doing so, he sold the property without his wife and five children’s knowledge, the National Court was told.
This led to one of the sons taking out two caveats – court orders to stop the sale and to stop them being evicted as tenants.