This archive report was first published on 10 July 2020.
Published on July 10, 2020, a government survey shows that the number of Kenyan households unable to pay rent in May rose by seven percent. The survey, released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), indicates that a majority of landlords refused to offer reliefs to tenants.
According to the survey, 61 percent of Kenyan households reported fallen earnings in May, a direct result of the economic impacts of the pandemic. The survey also shows that only 0.7 percent of households in rented dwellings received a waiver or relief from landlords on rent for May, while only six percent received a partial waiver.
“Respondents who reported that they were unable or would not be able to pay or not fully paid the rent for May were asked to give their main reason. Most of the households that were unable to pay rent for May attributed it to reduced income/earning (61 percent),” says the survey.
Notably, the inability to pay rent was a rise compared to April, where 30.5 percent of households reported inability to pay rent on the agreed date with the landlord. The report further shows that about a third of Kenyan households that paid rent on the agreed date had been unable to do so.
Landlords, majority of whom are servicing development loans, have recently said they now want evidence including documents that tenants have indeed lost their income if they are to allow them to continue staying in their premises. They argue that some tenants are using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to delay rent payments – especially for residential houses – yet have steady paychecks.
