The fate of hundreds of Makerere University students who call Pintos Girls’ Hostel home whenever the semester is ongoing hangs by the thinnest of threads following revelations that the Kikoni-based hostel is to be auctioned off within 30 days ceteris peribus.
Pintos Girls’ Hostel, located on Kibuga Plot 3 Block 718 in Makerere, Kikoni, is headed for the auctioneer’s hammer after Sir Pinto Distributors Ltd (SPDL) failed to pay the entire balance of a loan it acquired from an undisclosed lender within the agreed time.
It is understood that SPDL pledged the popular Kikoni-based hostel as collateral security in the event that it defaults on payments.
A notice issued by Steady Auctioneers that Campus Bee has seen has threatened to sale off by public auction Pintos Hostel if the debtor, SPDL, does not pay its outstanding balance, legal fees and other costs before the expiry of 30 days from the date the said notice was published.
Should the students currently resident at Pintos hostel be worried?
Notices of the kind as has been issued against the owners of Pintos usually also require of the occupants of the distressed premises to vacate them within a specific time that can be as short as two weeks.
Luckily though for Pintos’ residents, the requirement to vacate is conspicuously absent on this particular notice.
But even then, this should not be construed to mean that the prospective successful bidder for Pintos waives his/her/its right to seek vacant possession of the hostel building anytime after or even before the hammer comes down.
Should the worst-case scenario play out, Pintos residents should brace themselves for one hell of a nightmare looking for alternative accommodation near Makerere since the best and reasonably secure accommodation is usually already booked to capacity by this time.
Auctioning: A Concise Brief
An auction in Uganda like the one Pintos is currently facing is largely governed by the Mortgage Act of 2009.
Under that 2009 Act, A mortgagee [lender] may apply to Court to foreclose [extinguish] the right of the mortgagor [debtor] to redeem the mortgaged land [that given as collateral security for a loan] anytime after breaching the earlier agreement to pay within a specified period of time.
Upon an application for foreclosure by the lender, Court then determines the amount due to the lender and may fix a date from the date of the failure to pay, by which the debtor must have paid the amount due.
If the debtor fails to pay up on the date fixed by Court, Court then orders that the debtor’s right to redeem his land be extinguished and that the land be offered by the lender for sale by public auction, or by private treaty if the debtor allows and the Court also agrees to the terms of the sale by private treaty.
