We arrived at the lawyers office just in time for our 10am appointment, not that anyone was in a hurry
they had come in especially on a holiday day so it was pretty relaxed
we headed down to the board room, where we reamined for the next 5 hours as the lawyer took the seller, purchaser, land details sale price, witnesses names, asked questions of everyone to get all the relevant information and then he proceeded, by hand, to draft the Sale and Purchase Agreement.
Once he was happy with the draft he called for his assistance and he came and entered it all into the computer and printed off a draft copy for everyone to read before the final 5 copies were printed. (this process took around 3 hours) as he saw other clients in his office while we were waiting for the document to be completed.
he then got us all to read the agreed final comment, he made very thorough investigations and enquiries and then it was discovered there are 2 original land titales for each block, we had got a verified copy from the land office in Mpigi but we hadnt got a copy of the one in Kampala. Alex and Simon were confident it would be ok, the lawyer said I can only give you advice and its your risk if you dont accept it.
SO Deane and I, not wanting to delay everything, erred on cautious and said we couldnt pay the money over until it was confirmed their were no caveats on the title held in Kampala office, a process that takes 2-3 weeks for some, 2 hours for Alex & Simons friend Beatrice from the High Court BUT she wasnt able to help, she was on holiday in Rawanda😬😬😬
The cousin of the land owner said, dont worry Ive got a friend and Ill phone her right now but you will have to pass some ush over the counter, he phoned her, Simon and the nephew headed to the Land Registry office and came back with a clear title within 30 minutes!!! PHEW hapoy lawyer, hapoy Deane and Sherrilyn, very relieved Alex and Simon!!!
so at 2pm the signing began, that in itself took an hour by the time everyone in the room had signed and witnessed it including the lawyer.
With all that done, we thought yay, well be out of here any minute
BUT NO!!! the lawyer then started to handwrite all the transfer forms documents (only 4 or 5 of them)
3pm and we all headed out to the front counter to the cripple owner to sign everything and we handed over the money - the nephew of the land owner then sat and counted all 500 notes again!,,