Willstone Homes has found itself in a hard place as yet another aggrieved buyer drags the controversial developer to court over a botched housing deal, barely weeks after Nation Media blew the lid off what is now being described as a full-blown real estate scandal.
In the latest case, Joseph Waruingi Kiiru has sued Willstone Homes at the Ruiru Law Courts, accusing the firm of breaching a housing contract and threatening to illegally repossess a property he had already paid for.
Mr Kiiru told the court that in 2022, he entered into a deal with Willstone to purchase a three-bedroom bungalow with a Domestic Servant Quarter (DSQ) under the firm’s so-called ‘Manna Residence’ project in Ruiru.
The total cost was KSh 8.2 million, and he promptly paid a KSh 4.2 million deposit.
However, what was marketed as a smooth, milestone-based construction plan turned out to be a waiting game — and an alleged trap.
Mr Kiiru says construction was delayed by nearly a year and only began in mid-2023 — a clear violation of the 90-day completion timeline promised by the developer.
“The agreement was that I would pay the balance based on progress. But now they’ve threatened to sell the house to someone else — yet they are the ones who failed to meet their end,” Mr Kiiru, through his lawyer, told the court.
In a show of judicial caution, the court has issued interim orders restraining Willstone Homes from interfering with Mr Kiiru’s property until the case is heard on June 20, 2025.
This case adds to a growing list of complaints against Willstone Homes, which has come under fire after a recent Nation Media investigation revealed how multiple buyers — particularly Kenyans in the diaspora — were allegedly lured into fraudulent property deals using high-pressure marketing and false land ownership claims.
One such victim, Julius Njeru, who lives in the U.S., told the court that Willstone sold him a unit on land that belonged to a third party, later admitting that his down payment had been used to purchase land the firm didn’t originally own.
Now, Willstone Homes, whose leadership includes former Banda Homes staff — the company behind another infamous KSh 5 billion housing collapse — is under intense scrutiny.
Directors Ejidio Kinyanjui, Thuo Marigi, and Victor Cosmus Muusya have also been implicated in internal disputes involving allegations of fraud, conflict of interest, and money laundering.
For Willstone Homes, the walls are closing in — with court cases, media exposés, and rising public anger making it increasingly difficult to shake off the tag of being Kenya’s next big real estate scam.
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