A British family living in Nairobi's Karen is counting massive losses after they were evicted from their prime residence on Friday afternoon, February 4.
Media reports indicated that the family of Adrianne and Caroline Radcliffe were pitted in a property dispute against a Nairobi based lawyer over the ownership of the property situated in Farmlane.
According to the British family, they have lived in the disputed property for 33 years and wondered how they were evicted over rent arrears according to the auctioneers' claims.
Carolyne stated that on Friday afternoon, the auctioneers threw their personal belongings outside the property without according them enough time to settle the matter.
"They forced their way into their house. They were very rough with me and I have scars to show for it . They told us to secure our belonging but they gave us no time to do this," she told Citizen TV.
Adrianne informed the media that they acquired the property through a friend who had passed away years back. He pointed out that the Nairobi lawyer, who was their purported friend, aided them to procure the property.
He alleged that the Nairobi-based lawyer turned his back on them and sought a court order to kick them out, claiming to be the new owner.
Carolyne affirmed that for the 33 years, they had not signed a rental agreement hence the paperwork didn't exist. The British family however, reiterated that they had paid rent all through.
David Kisavuli, one of the Auctioneers, stated that they followed due procedure, adding that the main issue of contention was rent arrears, which he claimed, had not been paid since 2014.
"The court order was for eviction which was issued by Milimani law courts which was approved by county commander, OCPD and OCS. The execution of the court order was supervised by Deputy OCS of Karen," he stated.
The family decried losing valuable properties during the eviction process due to destruction and theft.
"A lot of things have been taken including small items which entered people's pockets and valuable stuff but also what our neighbours told us is that people have been walking off down the road with other things. There's a lot of suspicious events associated with what's happened here," he noted.
Lang'ata subcounty police commander, Benjamin Mwathi, confirmed to the media that the due process was followed during the eviction.
