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You see, one thing you shouldn't take for granted is keeping a proper record of whatever transaction you are doing with anyone, be it a close friend or your business partner. Even if you don't wish to read further and get the detail of my court experience with a friend, I believe you have gotten a tip of value through my first statement of this blog.
So for this 3rd edition topic with the hive learners community, it's all about sharing our personal experience with the court or perhaps someone we know who has been to court before.
Sometimes in 2016, my husband and I bought a full plot of land with one of his close friends named Martins. Martins is also my husband's colleague in his place of work, they are so close to the point that he was our best man during my white wedding in 2014 and also the Godfather of my Second Son. So one day, a plot of land came out so suddenly and he came to our house and informed us about the land, its affordability, its good location, and also its table (dry) land & the owner needed money urgently, hence the low cost.
Martins didn't have the #4 million for the plot of land and so he wanted us to buy it with him and then share the land half plot each here in Lagos state Nigeria where we reside. My husband and I welcomed the idea and we processed the land transactions (both parties paid #2M each). The following year, Martins decided to leave Nigeria for the United Kingdom in search of greener pastures. He needed money urgently to process his visa and other requirements. He ran back to us pleading that we should buy his half plot of the land at the same #2M. My husband and I didn't have up to 2M to buy the land. Buying land at that moment wasn't in the picture, we had other things bothering us other than land. We told Martins to look for another buyer because we don't have the full money 🤑 💰 but he complained about not getting any buyer who was ready to pay immediately whereas he needed money urgently. He practically begged us to buy the land even if we should pay in installments.
As a friend, we considered his request by pending another project we wanted at that point just to buy his land so he can travel to the UK. We paid him #1.8M remaining, #200,000 to complete the payment. He was so excited. We did an agreement on when the balance should be made which was supposed to be in 6 months. Martins gave his land documents to one of his friends in Nigeria before he left for the UK and told us that we will receive the documents once we balance the remaining 20% fee and that was fine by my husband and me.
Unfortunately, we didn't have the balance exactly at that 6-month due to other issues that came up. We immediately put a WhatsApp call across to Martins in the UK explaining to him our financial situation then and pleading that he exercise a little patience for us which he accepted with a good heart. We were able to balance the 20% remaining fee on the 12th month. My husband transferred the money to him and I forwarded the screenshot to him. We chatted about it through WhatsApp. He acknowledged the payment and thanked us for sending the balance. He also confessed how the #1.8M we paid earlier assisted him before his travel.
After 3 months, we didn't hear from Martins, nor did we hear from his friend who was supposed to give us the land documents as agreed after the full payment. All our efforts to reach Martins on the phone proved abortive. A close friend, suddenly started rejecting our calls and never bothered to reply to our messages. One day, he called to give us breaking news.....guess what?
Martins opened his mouth and told my husband and me to send our account number so he can return the money we paid for the land that he is no longer selling his land. At first, I thought he was joking but I was wrong; he meant it! Like, how can you eat your cake and want to have it back? It's so terrible to experience, human beings are unbelievable. After the money solved your urgent need, after almost two years of land transactions, he changed his mind suddenly, like who does that? Unfortunately, we already built our house in the so-called land and that's where I am typing this content from .. lolz
To cut the story short, Martins flew to Nigeria and sue my husband and I in court. Luckily for us, all my Whatsapp chats with him about the land, both the first payment and the balance, and how he acknowledged it...I saved everything in my email, and I printed all before the court invited us. We got our lawyer and moved to the court.... in fact, the case was an easy peasy one for the Judges...Lolz
Just like I mentioned before, the Judges also reminded him that he can't eat his cake and have it. He explained his side of the story likewise my husband and I were patiently sitting and hearing them. My husband presented all our printed conversations with him and he couldn't deny it. The court ordered him to give us the land documents within 24 hours which he did.
I was so happy to have kept every single record about the land transactions irrespective of how close we are to Martins. I didn't allow my mind to be clouded by our friendship with him... honestly, we learn every day and I am happy that the little record I kept, saved the day in the law court.
If you made it to this point, thanks for reading❤️🤗👏👍
This post was inspired by the #hivelearners community contest on the topic titled COURT