Tenants in Nakuru risk eviction as county demands rent arrears

 

Nakuru county government and tenants are headed for a clash after the devolved unit started the process of recruiting real estate agents to recover millions of shillings in rent arrears.

Thousands of tenants residing in defunct municipal council houses which were inherited by the devolved unit have defaulted in paying rent since the advent of devolution running into millions of shillings.

Efforts by the county government enforcement department to evict the tenants have faced headwinds as the county continues to lose revenue.

Most of the estates such as the sprawling Kivumbini, Paul Machanga, Kaloleni, Kimathi, Shauri Yako and Flamingo among others are believed to be the hideouts of the terror gang group popularly known as "Confirm" which has swindled Kenyans millions of shillings through fake mobile transactions.

The county is also owed millions of shillings by traders who own stalls in Bondeni, Shabab, Top market and Free Area markets who have not been paying their rents.

Past efforts by the county government to evict the tenants in some of the estates such as Flamingo, Kivumbini and Kimathi has faced tough resistance from some of the tenants who regrouped and attacked the enforcement officers.

The matter has been complicated further as some of the politicians support the "Confirm" gang and have in some instances bailed them out after they are arrested by police.

However, this may now become a thing of the past after the county started the process to hire real estate agents to recover the arrears.

Last month the devolved unit put a tender notice in the local dailies requesting for proposal for real estate agents.

"The County Government of Nakuru invites qualified, interested and eligible bidders for the request for the proposal for a real estate agent. Bids are to be received on or before Tuesday, February 9, 2021, at noon," read the tender notice signed by Benjamin Njoroge, the County Secretary and Head of Public Service.

"It will no longer be business as usual. The county cannot afford to lose revenue from tenants who have refused to pay for rents yet they continue to occupy the houses and market stalls. They will now deal with the Real Agents," said a senior Housing Officer, who could not be named as he is not the county spokesperson.

However, some of the tenants claimed that the county had a poor record-keeping system and feared to pay the rents as some of the processes were still done manually.

"I have witnessed an incident where a tenant paid the rent for six months but there were no available records to prove he had paid the rent," said a tenant at Kaloleni estate.