Aspindale Park owners, Marimba Industrial Properties Limited,
have come under fire from homeowners who purchased stands at their property
after it allegedly revalued outstanding instalments for stands using the
interbank rate of 2,5 RTGS dollars to the United States dollar.
Two of their clients have since instructed Alex F and
Associates Attorneys to demand that the property moguls reverse their decision
within 72 hours, failiing which they will face legal action.
In a letter to Marimba Industrial Properties Limited, Alex
F and Associates Attorneys allege that the decision by the company was illegal
and in violation of Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019.
“Clearly, your refusal to accept further payments from our
clients and/or your purported revaluations of pre-existing balances offend
against the provisions of Statutory Instrument 33 of 2019 Section 4(1)(b) and
(d) thereof provides as follows. That RTGS balances expressed in the US dollar
immediately before the effective date shall . . . be deemed to be opening
balances in RTGS dollars at par with US dollars and, (4(1) (d) that for
accounting purposes, all assets and liabilities that were immediately before
the effective date, valued and expressed in US dollar shall on and after the
effective date deemed to be values in RTGS at the rate of one to one to the US dollar”.
The lawyers argued that the cumulative effect, therefore,
of the provisions is that any purported revaluation of pre-existing balances
multiplying by a certain rate of the US dollar after the effective date is
illegal and is a breach of the contract.
Marimba Industrial Properties Limited and the clients Mr
Brighton T and Mrs Shylin M Mufumi in January 2018, entered into an agreement
and the terms were that the company would sell to the clients Stand 2013
Aspindale Park, measuring 200 square metres.
In terms of the agreement, the purchase price of the
property would be US$19 400, which would be settled over a 24-month period
through instalments of US$600 per month from February.
The occupation of the property would be given upon payment
of at least 75 percent of the agreed purchase price. To that end, the lawyers
argued, their clients made payments through bank transfers accordingly as it
was implied in the terms of agreement that payments could be effected otherwise
through a POS, RTGS, or like facility.
On or around February 20, following the announcement of the
Monetary Policy Statement, Marimba Industrial Properties Limited announced on
its Facebook page that it no longer accepted any payments from all its clients
until further notice.
The company is still to respond to the letter. Herald
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