The County Government of Uasin Gishu has started evicting tenants who have rent arrears amounting beyond Ksh200,0000 as of the end of March 2023.
Evictions which are being done by officers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development started on Thursday.
The exercise is part of the efforts by the county to enhance revenue collection and hit the target of Ksh1 billion.
On Thursday, acting Director of Housing Beatrice Menjo together with her Urban Development Planner counterpart Jacktone Kiprop led a team of enforcement officers in an early morning visit to the Pioneer Estate Houses.
The visit was meant to recover rent from tenants that have not paid since 2015 and beyond. The arrears, the county officials note, run into millions of monies owed to the County Government.
It is estimated that at least 100 tenants living in county houses within Pioneer Estate have not been paying rent – an accumulation of about Ksh22 million.
“We have begun this exercise and we intend to continue further until all arrears are paid fully. Today we begin with those with arrears of over Ksh200,000 then come down to 100,000 and finally to clearance of monthly bills smoothly,” Menjo said.
“We gave out notice of compliance severally and we want to appreciate those who headed the call and paid off. We shall reclaim back all houses that are in arrears,” she added.
Smooth eviction
In a rejoinder, Administrator Lands and Housing Sila Boit together with the principal Housing Isaac Sang said that the eviction process will be smooth.
He advised all tenants to pay up the rent before their tenancy term ends.
Menjo noted that with the first day of eviction alone, the County had a revenue collection hitting over Ksh. 1 million.
“The exercise hasn’t been easy but it’s all worth the effort. We hope all the tenants will comply as we also go further to all our estates until we attain 100% compliance,” added the acting Director of Housing.
Further, Planner Kiprop warned tenants against erasing house numbers in an effort to conceal them. He said such an action was punishable as it amounts to renovation or adjustment without seeking approvals from the Physical Planning department.
“These are Government houses and no one should do any illegal businesses or constructions within the premises,” emphasised Kiprop.
