Court orders land seller to facilitate subdivision
Written by Millennium on April 5, 2019
MUTINTA MULAYE writes
@SunZambian
A woman in Lusaka who sold part of her land has been ordered by court to quickly facilitate the subdivision of the plot so that the buyer could secure her title deed.
Christine Mpande, 42, of Matero Township, was ordered by the Boma Local Court to ensure that that her land was quickly subdivided to enable the buyer Mirriam Nankamba, 29, a trader of Chipata Overspill Compound, secure title deeds for her plot.
This was in a case before Senior Local Court Magistrate Gaston Kalala in which Ms Nankamba sued Ms Mpande claiming she was resisting to provide her with the documentation for part of the plot she bought from her in 2016.
“She does not want to give us any documents since 2016. We always have a misunderstanding every time I ask her about the offer letter,” said Ms Nankamba.
Ms Nankamba said that Ms Mpande’s children told her she had no right to build on the plot because she did not have any papers for it when she dug a foundation on the land in 2019.
“Ms Mpande told me the title deeds were not ready because the council has not yet subdivided the land so, I asked her to give me the offer letter which she said she had, but I do not understand why she still does not want to give it to me,” Ms Nankamba said.
She said that all she wanted was the offer letter for the plot and that she would push for the title deeds on her own because she wanted to start building on the plot soon.
But in her defence, Ms Mpande said the title deeds for the plot were still being processed and that she had already informed Ms Nankamba about the same.
“I tried to explain that to her but we do not usually understand each other because she comes with a group of people who try to intimidate me by shouting to demand the offer letter. She has no patience. She insults me and even slapped me once,” said Ms Mpande.
“I sold her half of my plot but the land has not been subdivided by the council yet. I’m required pay some money so I told her that the title deeds will be ready when I finish paying. I will appeal to the council to divide the plot soon,” Ms Mpande said.
Magistrate Kalala then ordered Ms Mpande, as the seller of the land, to ensure that the land was quickly subdivided so that the buyer could be able to secure title deeds for her plot.
The court also ordered that both parties bear the cost of the sub division.
