God is Able Graphic Designers and Suppliers Limited v Damanico Properties Limited

Flashcards based on the High Court of Uganda judgment regarding breach of contract, tenancy termination, and the legal principles of re-entry and distraint.

Special Damages

Quantifiable monetary losses such as past expenses, lost earnings, and out-of-pocket costs incurred directly as a result of a breach, which must be specifically pleaded and strictly proved.

Periodic Tenancy

A tenancy that arises if a tenant remains in possession after a fixed term expires with the landlord's consent, continuing under the same terms but on a new month-to-month basis.

Holding Over

The situation where a tenant continues to occupy a property after their fixed-term tenancy has expired, which may create a new tenancy or be considered a trespass.

Burden of Proof of Payment

The legal requirement that once a debt's existence is established, the debtor must prove with legal certainty that the obligation has been discharged through payment.

Ostensible Authority

Also known as apparent authority, it is the power of an agent to legally bind its principal arising from the principal's conduct which suggests the agent has that power.

Right of Re-entry

A landlord's unilateral power to end a periodic tenancy and recover possession if the tenant breaks covenants, such as failing to pay rent.

Peaceable Re-entry

The self-help remedy where a landlord physically re-possesses a property and secures it, often by changing locks after-hours, without a formal court order.

animus domini

The visible act of intention or disposition which would normally be found in the owner of the property, required to constitute the exercise of actual physical control during re-entry.

Involuntary Bailee

The legal status of a landlord who takes back possession of premises and finds that the former tenant has left goods behind, carrying an obligation not to recklessly damage them.

Distress for Rent

A self-help remedy consisting of the seizure of a tenant's goods to sell them and recover outstanding rent arrears.

General Damages

Compensation for direct natural or probable consequences of a wrongful act, such as loss of business income and reputation, which the court assesses intuitively.

Doctrine of Mitigation of Damages

The contract rule that a party suffering damage must take reasonable steps to prevent the extension of the injury and cannot recover for losses that could have been avoided.

Equitable Right of Set-off

A defense allowing a tenant to offset a claim for damages against a landlord's claim for rent when both cross-claims arise from the single tenancy contract.

Tenancy-at-will

An open-ended property tenure with no written agreement that has no specified end date and can be terminated at any time by either party.

Monthly Rent in Issue

The agreed monthly rent for Shop No. B11 in Centre Point Arcade was $shs.\,700,000/=$ payable in advance.

Total Rent Arrears Proven

The specific amount of outstanding rental arrears the defendant proved on a balance of probabilities was $shs.\,6,640,000/=$.