Rent waived
The County government of Nakuru has waived a total of Sh693 million debt owed by its tenants in form of rent arrears said to have accrued over the last eight years.
Governor Susan Kihika said the devolved unit is owed the Sh693 million by its tenants residing in over 7,000 housing units spread across the 11 Sub-Counties. While issuing the waiver, Ms Kihika appealed to the tenants occupying Nakuru County Government houses to pay their monthly house rents on time without defaulting to avert repossession and other measures deemed appropriate.
The county owns housing units at Ojuka, Kaloleni, Kivumbini, Flamingo, Shauri Yako, Phase Two, Ngei, Section 58, Paul Machanga and Daniel Kanyi estates among others outside the city where tenants pay between Sh2,000 and Sh20,000 in rent depending on location.
The governor said she had established a new office dedicated to handling rent payments via a Pay bill, which will begin operations from December this year in a move aimed at streamlining the rent payment.
She explained further that a three-month grace period had been granted to tenants before they can start making payments to ensure a smooth transition adding that the decision was part of her administration’s commitment to ensuring that everyone had access to housing without the burden of unmanageable debts.
At the same time, the governor warned residents who sublet county houses to stop forthwith or have their houses repossessed. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the tenants are subletting their houses. Ms Kihika also warned that houses that have been illegally transferred would be repossessed and re-allocated to other deserving residents without further communication.
“We will not tolerate unknown landlords subletting these houses and I assure that no one will be displaced from their homes”, said the governor. She however assured that all tenants will receive leases for the houses they currently occupy to safeguard their residency adding that the city administration had laid down a procedure of transferring county rental houses.
A survey by Kenya News Agency established that most people who were allocated the county government houses had since died or retired, and those still alive had sublet them to third parties at higher rates. Notably, those living in houses in the one-bedroom Phase Two estate units pay Sh 2,500, while the same houses are let to secondary tenants at the market rate of Sh10,000 per month.