Rogue broker nearly rips off chama

We unanimously agreed that we needed to sell our chama house. Money was in the buying and selling of land, we resolved at one of our monthly meetings.

It was left to each member to look for a buyer and the group agreed that the selling price would be Sh5 million, out of which five per cent was payable to whoever got a buyer.

One of the members had a broker in mind who would do this for us. The member did not doubt the broker, an aggressive go-getter. So the process of getting a buyer started, with the broker assured of a handsome commission.

A few days later, the broker informed the member that he had got a serious buyer; an American couple. He said that they had seen the building in the suburbs of Nairobi and liked it.

The estate managers had been given the go-ahead to allow the broker in, together with any potential buyers. At one point, our tenant complained that he was getting uncomfortable with the broker who was frequently taking different people to see the house.

Our tenant threatened to leave and alas, before we could say “sale”, the tenant that had paid us rent for the last four years without delay moved out.

We were to wait for four months before we could get another tenant.

At the next monthly meetings, the matter of the sale happened to be relegated. Every member could read that as a hard sale and inwardly concluded that the broker definitely was not sure of what he was saying.

Soon after, the secretary sent short text messages to all members saying that the broker had entered into an agreement with a prospective buyer that he was going to sell the house for Sh3 million. The prospective buyers were told we were in need of money urgently so that we could complete a land transaction in which it was said that we stood to reap in a big way because it was a good buy.

The broker had also managed to convince the buyer that he was part of the group and that we had given him the authority to sell on our behalf. He had convinced them that we were busy people and it was only he who had time.

There was finally a hitch when the stage of going to the lawyer came. The buyer insisted on visiting the lawyer to complete the transaction when he got the final balance, which was slightly more than Sh1.5 million.

The broker from that moment cut contact with the buyer. In desperation, the potential buyer visited the estate agent and asked for contacts of the group.

We were shocked to hear what had transpired.

He asked the buyer to be calm as he tried to locate the broker. One evening he arranged to meet with the broker who he told there was a land deal at Kajiado. They met at a hotel in Thika. Within no time, the couple that was conned together with the police trooped in, as per prior plan,and the broker was nabbed.