Harishchandra Bhovanbhai Jobanputra & Bhavna Harishchandra Jobanputra v Paramount Universal Bank Limited, Shree Krishna Hardware & Paints Limited, Suresh Ghedia & Rajesh Ghedia (Civil Application 335 of 2018) (Civ) [2019] KECA 582 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Once a mortgaged property is knocked down at a public auction in Kenya, your right to reclaim it ends immediately—courts won't stop the sale afterward.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the applicants were entitled to an interlocutory injunction restraining interference with the suit property pending the hearing of the suit, given that the property had been sold by public auction
- 2.When is the equity of redemption extinguished?
Key legal issues
#When the equity of redemption is extinguished
The equity of redemption is extinguished at the fall of the hammer at a public auction or upon a binding contract of sale, and the chargor can no longer seek injunctive relief over the sold property
The Court reaffirmed Mbuthia v Jimba Credit Finance Corporation, quoting Fisher and Lightwood's Law of Mortgage that a sale destroys the equity of redemption and makes the mortgagee a trustee of surplus proceeds. It noted the post-2010 decision in Savings and Loan Kenya Ltd v Mayfair Holdings Ltd, and that although section 89 of the Land Act, 2012 provides that the equity of redemption is not extinguished except under the Act, the property here had already been sold and transferred to a third-party purchaser. Injunctive relief was therefore no longer available.
Legal principles established
#- The equity of redemption in mortgaged or charged property is lost or extinguished at the fall of the hammer at a sale by public auction or when a binding contract of sale is entered into
Court orders
#- 1.The application before the Court of Appeal was dismissed
- 2.Costs of the application awarded to the respondents
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Nairobi
- HCCC No. 828 of 2010
- Jurisdiction invoked
- rule 5 (2) (b) of the Court of Appeal Rules
Relief refused
#Injunction restraining the respondents from selling or dealing with the suit property pending the hearing and determination of the suit
The equity of redemption had been extinguished upon the sale of the property by public auction to a third party
Costs
The application has no merit and is dismissed with costs to the respondents.
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
considered the scope of the equity of redemption and held that the same is lost or extinguished at the fall of the hammer at a sale by public auction or when a binding contract of sale has been entered into
The answer, then, to the question we posed is that the applicant is not entitled to the orders sought, the property having been sold to a 3rd party at the auction that took place earlier this year.
The application has no merit and is dismissed with costs to the respondents.
Issues in the judgment
#The coram lists 'HARISHCHANDRA BHOVANBHAI JOBANPUTRA' as 1st applicant, but the body of the ruling states he is deceased ('The original registered owners of the said property are the applicants, Harishchandra Bhovanbhai Jobanputra (deceased) - and his widow, Bhavna Harishchandra Jobanputra.'), yet he remains named before the Court without any substitution on the record.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Micheu v Co-operative Bank of Kenya Ltd (Civil Appeal 608 of 2019) [2026] KECA 946 (KLR)[2026] KECA 946 (KLR)15 May 2026
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Harishchandra Bhovanbhai Jobanputra & Bhavna Harishchandra Jobanputra v Paramount Universal Bank Limited, Shree Krishna Hardware & Paints Limited, Suresh Ghedia & Rajesh Ghedia (Civil Application 335 of 2018) (Civ) [2019] KECA 582 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2019). Civil Application No. NAI 335 of 2018. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2019/582/eng@2019-06-28
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.