Tenants who merged two Hiyaa apartments denied injunction to halt eviction

Civil Court, on Thursday, has denied the request by the Hiyaa tenants who merged two apartments to issue an injunction to halt their eviction.

The case of the two apartments that were merged by demolishing the parting wall between the two units came to public attention on May 5, after photos and videos of the apartments were shared on social media.

Urbanco conducted an investigation and fined the owners of both units by MVR 100,000. They were given 10 days to settle the fine and restore the apartments to its original state.

However, the tenants failed to pay the fine or rebuild the parting wall, and Urbanco decided to repossess the apartments, giving the tenants 14 days to vacate the units.

They were also given an additional 30 days – starting from May 14 – to settle the fine.

The tenants have contested Urbanco’s decision with the Civil Court, and sought an injunction to halt the repossession of the apartments.

The tenants claimed that Urbanco nullified the agreement in violation of Article 16. They also said that the decision to repossess the apartment subjects them to huge losses, citing the investments they had made to complete the finishing works among others at the units. Furthermore, they stressed that the timeframe granted to restore the apartments to their original state was unreasonable.

Civil Court, in their decision, said that the tenants violated the terms of the agreement with Urbanco and residential building laws knowingly. They also underscored the result would be the same under circumstances the court decides the eviction was ordered wrongfully; which is repossession by Urbanco. Therewith, the court stressed it does not believe the refusal to issue an injunction would result in irrevocable losses.

The court also stated that the tenants had no right to request an injunction after violating the terms of the agreement and residential building laws.