Case Analysis

Unpaid Apartment Deposit Refund Balance and Arbitration Lawyer and Advocate at Milimani High Court — Commercial & Tax Division, Nairobi: Maina: Partial Refund Did Not End the Forum Dispute

If you need a unpaid apartment deposit refund balance and arbitration lawyer or advocate for a matter connected to Milimani High Court — Commercial & Tax Division, Nairobi, start with the actual orders and documents. This article analyses Maina v Swivel Marketing Limited, decided by Milimani High Court — Commercial & Tax Division.

A partial refund with a disputed route to payment

In Maina, a buyer sought the unpaid KSh 710,000 balance of an apartment deposit refund after the project changed. The High Court at Milimani Commercial Courts rejected the developer's objection that the appeal belonged in ELC, because the claim concerned money rather than land ownership. However, it dismissed the buyer's appeal with costs and referred the dispute to arbitration under the agreement. It upheld the striking out of the Small Claims suit while correcting the statutory reasoning.

The buyer therefore succeeded on the High Court jurisdiction objection but did not obtain a refund judgment. The case does not show payment following arbitration. Its text varies the original deposit total and agreement dates; use the client's signed agreement and payment records rather than reconstructing those details from this account.

Separate the balance claim from an apartment title claim

An unpaid apartment refund balance lawyer needs to know what remedy you now want. Are you asking for money already promised, delivery of the apartment, cancellation of the agreement or an interest in land? The documents and requested relief matter more than describing everything as a property dispute. Maina involved a particular money claim on appeal; it does not place every developer dispute in the same court.

Provide the original sale agreement, amendments and any later cancellation or refund arrangement. Identify the contracting company and the person who received the deposit. If you paid an agent, attach evidence connecting that payment to the contractual seller. Keep the apartment number, project name and parcel reference accurate, but do not infer the correct court solely from where the development is located.

Build a payment and refund ledger

List each payment, its date, recipient and supporting record. Then list every refund actually received. Keep proposed instalments separate from paid instalments. A promised transfer should not reduce your ledger until you have evidence that it arrived. Explain any charge, deduction or allocation disputed between the parties.

Attach receipts and relevant bank or mobile payment records privately for consultation. If the figures in correspondence differ from the ledger, flag the difference and preserve both versions. The advocate needs to see how the claimed balance was calculated. An amount repeatedly mentioned in demand letters may still need reconciliation with the underlying payments and contractual terms.

Preserve the refund correspondence

Supply the complete exchange about repayment, including proposals you rejected and any conditions attached to an offer. Separate an unconditional statement about an amount from a proposal made to settle a disagreement. Do not present a selected sentence without the surrounding correspondence. In Maina, the repayment correspondence was considered alongside the agreement and the developer's procedural response.

Record whether the proposed refund was accepted, varied or disputed. If construction changed from apartments to another form of housing, keep the brochure, original specification and later notices. Label your allegations accurately: a change in the project and a court finding of fraud are different matters. This judgment did not find criminal fraud by the developer.

Read the dispute clause before selecting a forum

Give the advocate the full arbitration clause and any separate dispute procedure. A partial repayment does not answer every question about the remaining dispute or the agreed route. The Maina court treated non-payment of the balance as a dispute falling within the agreement and referred it to arbitration. That outcome depends on its particular contract and procedural record.

If a claim has already been filed, include the pleadings, appearance documents, arbitration application and ruling. The sequence of steps mattered to the court's discussion. Do not calculate a new deadline or assume that a similar application will succeed from this article. The lawyer must assess your actual record and any later orders.

For lawyer and advocate review at Milimani High Court Commercial and Tax Division, send the signed agreement, payment ledger, refund correspondence and latest court documents. State that the immediate issue is the unpaid balance and the proper route to pursue it. This focused enquiry distinguishes recovery of a partially refunded deposit from apartment title disputes, auction losses and disputes about a developer's price increase.

Editorial analysis checked on 5 October 2026. Practical document guidance is commentary. The cited case is not our firm’s case or a promised outcome; later orders may affect its position.