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Hellen Njeri Nderu, a real estate agent in Nairobi, alleges that she was approached on Facebook by a French couple, Luc Camilleri and Ricard Magaly, to help them find a suitable house to rent in Nairobi. The couple had just moved to Kenya with their two young kids, where Ricard had secured a job working at the French Embassy.

Following discussions with Luc, Hellen claims that a verbal agreement was struck and she was advanced a sum of Ksh 20,000 to cater for her expenses as she went hunting for a house. The French couple fell in love with a furnished house that Hellen found, but the rent was slightly above their budget and the landlord refused to budge. Hellen did some digging and discovered that the house could be rented for much less if it came unfurnished, and so she approached Luc and Ricard with the good news. The couple happily agreed to the offer as they had brought in a container with some of their own furniture items and did not, therefore, really need a fully-furnished house.

Hellen alleges that the couple requested further assistance from her with sourcing some additional furniture, curtains, and a few electronic items. She then proposed that they pay her a fee equivalent to $3,000 for all the services that she was providing, and as a small percentage of the substantial savings in rent – Ksh 130,000 per month over a period of 5 years – that she had managed to secure for them.

Shortly after Luc and Ricard had signed the lease agreement with the landlord however, they went silent for a couple of weeks, and when Hellen followed up with them for payment of her commission, they allegedly blocked her number and ceased communicating with her altogether.

Hellen sought the intervention of the French Embassy to assist with getting her money, and subsequently met with an officer going by the name of Mr. Jimmy on 17th October 2024. She shared with him some of the WhatsApp messages between her and the couple to back up her story and Mr. Jimmy promised to get back to her, although she has not heard from him since. She also wrote several letters to the Embassy with no response.

Feeling like she had no other option, Hellen filed a complaint at the Diplomatic Police Station in Gigiri but when the officer who took her report tried to investigate the matter by reaching out to Luc on phone for comment, the backlash was swift. The officer was allegedly summoned by the station commander to record a statement explaining why she was “summoning” a diplomat. In her defence, she claimed that she was merely doing her job of investigating a complaint reported at the station by an aggrieved citizen.

Hellen believes that despite the fact there was no written contract for payment of the $3,000 commission for providing her services, there is enough evidence available through the exchange of communication between them to support the legitimacy of her claim against Luc and Ricard, and she deserves to be paid for her services. Whether she will be able to get justice is something we shall just have to wait and see.