The wicked tenant

–    What for?–    You’re wilier than your father the Evil Genius. Let’s celebrate.–    What?–    The rejection of your quit notice.–    Ha, did you know that I was not aware?–    That…?–    That my tenancy has expired. I know that under the lease agreement, a tenant is entitled to renew his lease.–    You mean you had forgotten […]

–    What for?
–    You’re wilier than your father the Evil Genius. Let’s celebrate.
–    What?
–    The rejection of your quit notice.
–    Ha, did you know that I was not aware?
–    That…?
–    That my tenancy has expired. I know that under the lease agreement, a tenant is entitled to renew his lease.
–    You mean you had forgotten when your lease expired?
–    I’ve been very busy.
–    Your lawyer did not discuss the issue of extension with you before approaching the estate management for a reconsideration meeting?
–    We didn’t discuss the issue but then he knows his job.
–    I thought this was discussed at the executive meeting at your residence?
–    Oh, that was a state of the property meeting.
–    Barman, give me a bottle of whatever this man is drinking?
–    Stop embarrassing me. What do you mean?
–    You held a meeting with executive management yet you claim the extension of your lease was not discussed? Are you sure you have not mortgaged the house?
–    I will quit on my own terms, nobody can hustle me out.
–    Really?
–    Well, I have rights.
–    Rights? You had responsibilities – you were to sanitize the house, keep it clean and habitable at all times and prevent vermin infestation. You broke the terms, you must quit.
–    I have a right to a renewal of my lease, if there’s any terms I’ve broken, I will correct them before the expiration of my final lease. Besides, your preferred tenant is not acceptable to me.
–    A mortgage firm reserves the right to choose its tenant, to renew a lease or terminate it. You’re behaving like a thug, I wish the firm had not put you on its most valued property.
–    Well, I’ve told you, I’ll leave on my own terms, your preferred tenant suffers from OCD, he’ll drag me and my friends to jail and ridicule for trashing the property, I can’t let him do that.
–    If you were afraid of neat freaks, you should have lived by the terms of your lease and not make a mess.
–    Well, some mess has been made, it has changed the rules.
–    You’re more than pathetic, you’re sick.
–    Call me names. I see loopholes in the lease, I exploit it to my advantage. Why are you complaining, didn’t you say I was clueless.
–    Yes you are.
–    Give me another chance to fix my mess.
–    You mean a chance to bury your mess? We know.
–    Know what?
–    Your houseboy said you’ll rather the house falls than hand over to our prospective tenant. You’ve run a campaign of calumny that doesn’t wash. This tenant once occupied the estate and kept it squeaky clean.
–    People love the house as it is?
–    Your indolent houseboys perhaps.
–    Well, there are snakes on the north east wing of the property, we have to clear them.
–    Your company had six years to clean up and failed, how can fumigation with expired chemicals do the job in six weeks? The new tenant is a trained exterminator.
–    Well, I have enlisted the help of friendly neighbours to flush or quarantine the pests.
–    You had been sleeping all these while?
–    The mess was there before I came, at any rate you want the place fumigated, I will do that when my tenancy is renewed; shouldn’t you support me to do it, rather than complain? Besides, you want a stakeholder’s meeting of your lackeys to determine my fate; you must involve all shareholders. Form a quorum, take a binding decision and I would abide by it. Every shareholder must exercise their voting rights for a binding decision.
–    No AGM records a 100% attendance, which is why the law makes a quorum the basic requirement for binding decisions. Even if you gather all shareholders, give them suya meat and Origin, some would still abstain.
–    Yes, but we should not wilfully disenfranchise them. I put it to you that you want to gather a few loyalists of yours to push me out and make it look as if I am the worst tenant ever. I told you I know my rights.
–    You’re buying time to influence shareholders, all we want is a new tenant who can clean your mess, keep our property habitable and prevent infestation. Initially, you rejected your right of first refusal ab-initio. You can’t be trusted.
–    A tenant has a right to renewal.
–    Not when you have shown gross management incompetence, used divisive tactics and allowed manifest infestation. Asking for ease renewal tantamount to letting the house fall.
–    You have your say I have my way. We shall meet the shareholders, let them decide.
–    You truly are a wicked tenant. History would be hard on you.
–    History is a long thing, I live for the day.