Should the Landlord and Tenant Bill before parliament be passed, landlords will have to get a permit from authorities to increase their rent. The bill which is before parliament seeks to to protect both landlords and tenants to ensure that both parties have an agreeable business relationship.
Housing minister Soita Shitanda says tenants especially have been on the receiving end for a long time in a situation where landlords would increase rent without explaining to their tenants reasons for the action. Now landlords will have to give acceptable reasons to authorities in order to get the rent increment permit.
The bill also seeks to bar tenants from vacating premises without notice causing landlords losses in rent arrears. Should the law be passed, tenants will have to give a three month notice of vacation to their landlords.
The country faces a huge housing deficit which has prompted Housing Finance (HF) through its subsidiary Kenya Building Society to revive its active development of housing units. The house minister made these remarks at the launch of a housing development project by HF at Nairobi’s Komarock estate. There is an estimated housing demand of 250,000 units a year in Kenya against a supply of only about 50,000 units.
The deficit has been blamed by many quaters as the reason housing rent has been on the rise through the years. Housing Finance proposes to develop about 162 units and a commercial centre in Komarock.