An Arbitral Tribunal has granted an award of N33.9 million to Host Integrated Services (a Facility Management Company) against Lekki Luxury Flats Property Owners and Residents Association over a terminated contract involving the facility management services of an estate with joint facilities for individual occupants in Lekki Phase 1, in Lagos.
Lekki luxury flats belonged to ExxonMobil staff cooperative multipurpose society Ltd. Chairman of the Lekki Luxury Flats Property Owners and Residents Association, Engineer Emem Udoh was also joined in the suit.
The Tribunal which granted the claim on September 18, 2018 specifically made the final award concerning the clause in the agreement defining the mode of payment as inserted by the Lekki Luxury Flats Property Owners and Residents Association (LLFPORA) at the commencement of the agreement.
The contract was sequel to an invitation bid from ExxonMobil Staff Cooperative Multipurpose Society Limited for the facility management services of the Lekki Luxury Flats. After a successful bid, there was another invitation from the ExxonMobil Co-op Limited, for commercial tender for the facility management services of the Luxury flats on March 1, 2013.
The matter however resulted in arbitral proceedings between the parties when the Claimant was served a letter of contract termination on March 14 2014 to expire on April 15 2014.
The Claimant, while insisting that the facility management contract was not terminated in accordance with the laid down terms and with its workers denied access into the estate in violation of the 30-day notice as stipulated in clause 7.3 of the contract, took the matter to arbitration before a Tribunal for redress.
It claimed that as at the time the contract was terminated, there were some outstanding payments due and payable to it. Specifically, the Claimant said it was entitled to payments for work done under the maintenance contract and other jobs arising from the preparation and implementation of a snag report.
It maintained that the Respondents were liable to pay for the outstanding invoices for the jobs done with interests and damages, even as the envisaged 2-year contract was terminated midstream. The Respondents however denied liability in any form and justified the termination of the facility management contract on the alleged incompetence on the part of the Claimant.
While denying the monetary claims, the Respondents further justified the contract termination on the grounds that residents of the estate refused to pay their maintenance bill as a result of complaints of incompetence by staff of the Claimant.
In its findings, the Arbitral Tribunal comprising Achike Umunna (Presiding), Hon Justice E. O. Sanyaolu (Rtd.) and Sophia Abiri-Franklin commenced the arbitral proceedings and convened hearing for the parties who also gave evidence in line with their respective cases and deliberated extensively on crucial points of law in deciding the case.
In making the final award in the dispute between Host Integrated Services Limited and Lekki Flats Property Owners and Residents Association, it took into consideration the terms of the contract and the nagging issues that made arbitration inevitable.
In the Certified True Copy (CTC) made available to us, it also deliberated on the points of claim as well as points of defence filed by their respective counsel and relied on several documents among other things.
The Tribunal findings considered and ruled on claims and counter claims before deciding that the Claimant is entitled to the sum of N33,913,988.94 being outstanding unpaid bills.
The Tribunal further stated that an additional 15% will accrue on the sum from June 30 2014 until final liquidation in line with clause 7.4 of the contract between the two parties.