The Nairobi County government has closed down four buildings in the central business district over unpaid rent and threatened to close 20 more buildings tomorrow.
According to the county leadership, the owners of the buildings have failed to pay millions in land rates, necessitating the immediate closure.
Nairobi County's Receiver of Revenue, Tiras Njoroge, said the move seeks to recover billions of shillings in unpaid land rates.
Njoroge said that those affected have failed to honour their part despite the county giving them time to show goodwill in paying the arrears. The county is targeting buildings in high-end areas, including Westlands, Upper Hill, Kilimani, and Industrial Area.
According to county records, the situation is dire. Of the approximately 256,000 registered land parcels in Nairobi, only 50,000 are currently paying land rates, representing an alarming compliance rate of just 20 per cent.
The Johnson Sakaja-led county has warned that 20 more buildings are set to be closed on Wednesday, May 14, as the crackdown continues.
“After clamping down the buildings, we quote them as a Nairobi County property until all the debts have been cleared. Tomorrow, we will be clamping 20 more properties in high-end areas. It’s important to note that we are targeting hundreds of such buildings,” Njoroge warned.
To ensure that building owners comply and pay the due rent, the county has begun door-to-door visits to the buildings, registering them in the county's pay system and then teaching them how to make payments using the system.
''We are going to get into the buildings and register all the tenants into the Nairobi County payment systems and teach them how to make payments. Every single end of the month, we will expect them to be remitting their rents to the County until the areas are completely paid off," Njoroge explained.
In April, the county government gave a waiver period to allow property owners to regularise their accounts without penalties. The grace period ended on April 30, after which the Nairobi County government launched a full-scale crackdown on rent and land rate defaulters.
During the waiver period, landowners were allowed to clear outstanding arrears without facing enforcement actions such as clamping, eviction, or legal proceedings.
The crackdown on buildings with unpaid rent comes barely a week after the county began another operation in over 35 residential estates it manages, where tenants who have failed to pay rent arrears were evicted.
