Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee Member for the Department of Lands, Physical Planning, Housing and Urban Development Anthony Sitienei over the weekend led a door-to-door visit of all tenants in the County houses within Mayabi.
The visit was to ensure compliance on payment of rent is achieved.
According to the Housing County Executive, the rent arrears that dates back to over 10 years in some cases has seen the Department unable to raise funds to renovate or improve the status of the houses.
As a result, they have opted for a joint intervention to save the situation.
“We have been forced to give eviction notices and in other cases evict the tenants whose arrears go up to Ksh300,000 so that we re-allocate the houses to new people willing to be responsible and adhere to our agreements,” noted Sitienei.
Payment plans
On his part, Chief Officer Housing and Urban Development Julius Koech appreciated the good turn up by the tenants who queued to pay for rent.
“We have plans to ensure we accommodate everyone so negotiate on payment plans, especially for those who commit through partial payments directly, ” noted Koech.
In addition, Beatrice Menjo, the Director of Housing, noted that since the exercise started weeks ago from Pioneer Houses, the Department has collected a significant amount going into millions from the tenants.
“We have managed to do away with middlemen who were acting as landlords and collecting rent from the tenants illegally by registering the tenants afresh into our system. This is a big success for the County Government, ” noted Menjo.
Tenants were also advised to take good care of the houses they are living in as they are meant to bnefit many generations in years to come.
