Mike was ecstatic when he finally got the land from the Rozier family at an unbelievably low price. He felt like he had hit the jackpot and couldn’t believe his luck. He immediately started planning his dream house and even invited family and friends to come and see the land. But there was one problem, Mike was so caught up in his excitement that he forgot to ensure that both parties signed the property agreement papers. He didn’t think much of it at the time, but it would later come back to haunt him. Several months into building on the land, another person named Benny Faccoli appeared out of nowhere and stopped him from building on the land. Benny claimed that he owned the entire expanse of land including that of Mike and showed the original documents in his name to prove it.

‘I have spent so much time and money on the land, and now this god-forsaken guy is claiming ownership… where was he when I was building…can’t I evoke the doctrine of laches’ Mike thought to him. He tried to fight it but quickly conceded that such would be a fruitless effort. Buying the land from the Rozier family at that ridiculous price ought to have been a sign, he said to himself.

In the end, Mike had no choice but to plead to purchase the land again from Benny. Benny was reluctant at first but then considered that Mike must have spent lots of money to purchase the land initially, so he agreed to sell it to him. This time, Mike decided to play a fast one on Benny. He noticed that Benny had an eye problem, so he offered to prepare the property agreement and used the opportunity to increase the size of the land he wanted to buy from Benny whilst still paying the initial amount agreed by both parties.

Benny didn’t suspect a thing and signed the agreement without reading it properly. Mike felt like he had won again and was happy to finally have the land he had always wanted plus extra.

But the happiness was short-lived. A few months later, Mike received a letter from Benny’s lawyer, stating that the property agreement was invalid as it had been signed under pretenses. Benny had found out about Mike’s trick and had taken legal action.

Mike was devastated once again. He had lost the land and now owes Benny a large sum of money in damages. It was a sad ending to what had started as a funny story.