Renson Wesonga and his wife Diana Mwasya Wesonga, a deaf-mute couple that lives in Free Town Kisimani Area in Mombasa landed a major win in court on November 16.
According to court records, their landlord, through a house agent, had taken the couple to the Rent Tribunal in a bid to have them evicted.
However, the tribunal’s Chairman Hillary Korir denied the landlord's appeal and ordered that the couple remains in the house they had been living in since June 11 2018.
The tribunal was moved by Diana's testimony in which she explained her daily challenges in the estate she shares with 10 other tenants.
Through her sign language interpreter Florence Kasichana, the young mother narrated how her neighbors have been tormenting her ever since they moved in.
"When I was pregnant, the neighbors wrote a depressing letter to me. I took the letter to the landlord and he did nothing," she told the Tribunal.
She further claimed that someone would slip abusive letters to her through the door while she was in the house and when she tried to seek help, she was dismissed and told she is arrogant.
At some point, she claims to have been assaulted by one of the neighbors, a matter she reported at the Nyali Police Station.
However, the house agent told the court that 8 tenants have had to move out of the estate due to what she described as discomfort caused by the couple.
The agent said that she had talked to them in her office about the importance of co-existing with their neighbours but they had allegedly refused to heed her advice.
"The couple had a tendency to pick up fights with all their neighbors, going as far as calling the music copyright agents on their neighbours due to the loud music," the agent revealed.
In addition, the couple was accused the couples of refusing to pay the electricity bill for 19 months which amounts to Ksh12, 725.
However, Wesonga was quick to deny this and told the Tribunal that they had applied to have the landlord install personal electricity meter to avoid sharing of electricity bills.
The tribunal was established under Section 4 of the Rent Restriction Act, Cap 296, Laws of Kenya.
Its mandate is to determine disputes between landlords and tenants of protected tenancies, which are residential buildings whose rent does not exceed Ksh 2,500.
Watch the deaf couple arguing their case before the Rent Tribunal:
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