This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
June 15, 2020 - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has left thousands of Kenyans jobless, with many others forced to take pay cuts. Amidst this economic uncertainty, a landlord lobby group in Kenya is now seeking a new measure to protect their welfare: access to a tenant's employer.
According to Ben Liayi, Secretary-General of the Landlords and Tenants Association Of Kenya, this would allow landlords to verify an occupant's inability to pay rent. 'Most landlords know when a tenant is telling the truth or when they are lying. It helps to have a good relationship,' Liayi said.
Liayi's argument is that landlords should be able to authenticate whether tenants have lost their sources of income or not. This, he believes, would help prevent tenants from lying about not being able to pay rent.
However, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported in April that 30 percent of Kenyans were unable to commit to their rental dues, largely due to reduced earnings and temporary job losses.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has urged landlords to be lenient with their tenants, saying 'we need to know that even landlords have bank loans that they need to pay up. It is a chain of events that will need all of us to be humane towards one another.'
