This is a newly built beautiful house situated at Abelemkpe, quite a strategic location if you are familiar with Accra area. I spotted it on one Sunday afternoon while searching for a place where we can call it home and/or office. It is the company’s decision to have me stay and work at the same place (kind of eat and shit together). So after a brief negotiation with this guy Seth Odei-Danso who claimed to be the real estate agent for the landlord, we came to the term that the monthly rental is USD2,800 unfurnished, one year’s full rental (USD33,600) upfront plus agency fees of one month’s rental equivalent.
Having paid for a month’s so-called deposit as a consideration for the owner to dress up the house for me, Seth promised that the house would be ready in two weeks’ time, i.e. 15-November. My tenancy at the apartment then would end on 17-November so that worked out fine to me. However, after one week had passed, I didn’t see even a ghost working at the house. So I confronted Seth and he asked for another week’s extension; that was 22-November which means I have to extend my stay at the apartment for another 5 days. Who would bear the cost in contractual terms? However, I decided to practice “give and take” so long he can handle me the house on the date he promised and leave me in peace.
I eventually moved in on 30-November after paying the one year’s rental of USD33,600 as well as the agency fees and I don’t want to elaborate the frustration I have had during that hassled period.
But if you are observant enough, you would realize at this point is where the landlord is? Well, it was on 1-December that one guy called Ivan came to the house representing the landlord demanding payment from my “beloved” Liaison Officer Mat! We were panic at that time as any fool would tell you something had gone wrong. But luckily we know where Seth works, so Mat and Ivan went to Lincoln Community School; a renowned international school catered for the rich and foreign expatriates’ kids to look for him. Seth did not hand over a single dime to the landlord and he had the cash in his “save keeping”. Upon demand, he had to surrender the money to Cynthia. Ah, another character unfolded to this play. Cynthia is the Executive Director of Goldkey Property Limited, whose “sister company” developed and sold this piece of property and now Goldkey had stepped in as the marketing agent for the landlord.
Hold on a minute, I signed the Tenancy Agreement with a guy called Martin Nantwi whom I have had no chance to meet face to face’ So what is the contractual privy of Cynthia or Goldkey? Even though I had managed to resolve the “almost befallen” con-job of Seth, I can’t help but worry any unforeseen future circumstances.
As the locals or the CIA website had mentioned, in Ghana it is very “common” to have signed a contract or bought a piece of land with the “rightful owner” only to be approached by another guy with proper document telling you that he is the “lawful owner” of the property.
Oh, Ghana, what a lovely country!
