Kenyans who fail to pay rent for Affordable Housing units for four consecutive months may still have a chance to keep the unit, according to the Draft Affordable Housing Regulations 2024.
In the new proposal, the tenant could either enter into a restructuring arrangement with the government or change the affordable housing unit to a lower unit.
It is important to take note that to be allocated a lower unit upon default, Clause 14 of the Draft Regulations provides that it will only occur if the payments already made cover the purchase price of the lower unit.
"The Board may change an affordable housing unit to a lower value unit under regulation 13, where the defaulter meets the allocation criteria specified for the lower value unit or where the payments made would cover the purchase price of the lower value unit," the regulations read in part.
The third and fourth option involves losing the housing unit at the discretion of the Affordable Housing Board.
This means that the affordable housing unit can either be repossessed or the government will reallocate the unit to another eligible person per the Regulations.
The Regulations also clarified the private players seeking to supply materials for the affordable housing units.
According to Clause 27, any private institution that enters into an agreement with the Board shall be required to list the details of the company and work involved.
This includes the company name, project cost, location and scope of work required to develop the unit.
The Draft Regulations are currently in the public participation stage whereby Kenyans have been invited for comments before April 29, 2024, at 5:00 pm.
Upon approval, the regulations will operationalise the Affordable Housing programme, touted as President William Ruto's pet project.
It involves Kenyans remitting a 1.5 per cent monthly deduction which is matched by another 1.5 per cent from the employer.
The programme emanated from the Affordable Housing Bill which was signed into law by President Ruto on March 19, 2024.
