Restaurant evicted from Uchumi's Lang'ata branch despite earlier court orders

Hot Spot Coffee Lounge at Uchumi Supermarkets' Lang'ata Hyper branch, from where the restaurant was evicted on Friday. [Nancy Gitonga, Standard]

A city restaurant has been evicted from its Uchumi Supermarkets' Lang'ata Hyper branch premises after an auctioneer enforced fresh court orders obtained in Eldoret over rent.

The eviction of Hot Spot Coffee Lounge on Friday came despite earlier orders issued by the Milimani Commercial Court restraining Uchumi Supermarkets, its agents and auctioneers from evicting the restaurant or interfering with its business at the Lang'ata premises.

The latest development has exposed conflicting court orders, with the restaurant arguing that the eviction violated existing judicial protections while the auctioneer relied on fresh orders issued in Eldoret.

Court documents show that the auctioneer moved to the Eldoret Magistrate's Court seeking orders to facilitate distress for rent against the restaurant.

In a ruling delivered on Thursday, July 16, Eldoret Resident Magistrate Naima Kirui Chelangat certified the application as urgent and granted interim orders pending the hearing of the application on July 30.

The magistrate ordered that the matter be certified as urgent and granted prayers 2, 4 and 5 of the Notice of Motion by the auctioneer pending the hearing and determination of the application.

Following the orders, the auctioneer proceeded to evict the restaurant from the premises.

Hot Spot Coffee Lounge has since moved back to court, seeking to set aside the ex parte orders issued and to reverse the eviction.

The restaurant is seeking the immediate and unconditional release of all property seized during the distress and restoration to the premises it occupied at Uchumi's Lang'ata Hyper branch.

Among the items listed as having been removed are coffee machines, refrigerators, freezers, chillers, display units, tables, chairs, microwave ovens, generators, kitchen equipment, deep fryers, cutlery, computers, point-of-sale machines and food stock.

The restaurant is also seeking orders compelling the auctioneer and Uchumi Supermarkets to restore its peaceful possession of the premises.

It has further asked the court to direct the Officer Commanding Lang'ata Police Station to enforce any orders issued in its favour and grant leave to cross-examine the auctioneer over his affidavit of service.

The latest proceedings have added another layer to a commercial dispute that has been pending before different courts for more than two years.

On May 2, 2024, the Milimani Commercial Court issued temporary injunctive orders restraining Uchumi Supermarkets, its agents, employees, auctioneers, contractors and any other persons acting on its behalf from interfering with the restaurant's occupation of the Lang'ata premises pending the hearing of the case.

In the orders, Senior Resident Magistrate Christine Ogweno directed that "pending hearing of the application inter-partes, an order of temporary injunction be and is hereby issued restraining the defendants from, among other actions, evicting, auctioning, polluting or in any other way interfering with the Plaintiff's trade, commercial activities and quiet occupation of the Defendants' Lang'ata Hyper Branch of Uchumi off Lang'ata Road."

The court also restrained the defendants from commencing construction works without notice, disconnecting water or electricity, blocking access to the premises, introducing parking fees without notice or public participation, and advertising or selling the building pending the hearing of the application.

The dispute has also been litigated before the Business Premises Rent Tribunal, where the parties have contested the termination of the tenancy, recovery of rent and the restaurant's continued occupation of the premises.

The latest eviction has now brought the Eldoret proceedings into conflict with the earlier Nairobi cases, leaving the courts to determine the competing applications arising from the long-running commercial tenancy dispute.