Court gives green light for auction of iconic Desai House at Sh412m

The iconic Desai House, owned by late freedom fighter Jashbhai Motibhai Desai, is set to be auctioned at a reserve price of Sh412 million.

This follows a ruling by the Environment and Lands Court (ELC) that the property in Parklands within Nairobi County be sold through a public auction after beneficiaries of the Desai estate failed to agree with a private developer who has been claiming part of the property.

The ELC’s deputy registrar I N Barasa issued the order and directed Keysian Auctioneers to advertise the property for public auction within the next 45 days.

“The auctioneers shall advertise the property for sale by public auction and give prospective purchasers not less than 45 days’ notice, after which it shall be sold on the open market subject to reserve value of Sh412,500,000,” ruled Barasa.

Desai House, one of the oldest buildings in Parklands, is one of the few remaining monuments where Kenya’s freedom fighters would seek refuge from the torment of the colonial masters. 

Desai turned his home, Desai House, into a room for all, where Mau Mau freedom fighters would sneak at night to strategise while politicians, including Jomo Kenyatta, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Mwai Kibaki used the home as a meeting place. 

It is also where young educated Kenyans were inducted into national politics to join the struggle for independence and used as a secret haven, where the freedom fighters wrote and smuggled secret letters to seek support from outside the country.​

The move now comes despite government, in October 2016, declaring the building a national monument and gazetting the Desai House as part of the national heritage due to its significance in the country’s struggle for independence in 1963.

The property was acquired by Desai in 1937 after migrating to Kenya from India. The pre-colonial house has stood for more than 85 years. Desai stayed in the house until his death in July 1991.

Before his death, Desai, in his will, bequeathed the property to his two children, Dipa Pulling and Niranjan Jashbhai Desai, and his two grandchildren Sandeep Rajni Desai and Kevit Subash Desai.

Sandeep Rajni Desai [Courtesy]

The four were to have equal shares. Desai specified in his will that the property was not to be sold, unless there was a unanimous decision by the four of them.

Since the other siblings, Dipa and Niranjan were residing outside the country while Kevit had alternative residence, they agreed to let Sandeep take over the property. That has been his home since 2000.

Despite Desai’s last wish that his house should not be sold unless the four beneficiaries agree, a dispute arose and in December 2016, Niranjan Jashbhai and Kevit Subash sold their combined half share to Suchan Investments Limited.

Dipa and Sandeep then went to court to stop Suchan Investments Limited and its directors Kamal Chandulal Shah and Smita Kamal Shah from taking over the property, arguing that they had no direct ownership of the property, as they inherited it from Desai.

Since the parties could not agree, Justice Samson Okong’o, in November 2019, ruled that since Niranjan and Kevit had sold their shares, the private developers also had a stake and they all own the Desai House as tenants in common.

The judge had directed that Dipa, Sandeep and Suchan Investments Limited agree on how to partition the property for each one of them, according to their shares, failure to which the property would be auctioned.

Since the three parties failed to agree on how to partition the property, Suchan Investments Limited returned to court, leading to the order by the deputy registrar that it be auctioned.

Barasa directed that the proceeds of sale of the property shall be deposited in court for distribution to the parties in accordance with their shares.