The Urban Landlords and Tenants Association of Kenya (ULTAK) is waiting for a go-ahead from the Central Bank of Kenya in order to kick-start the process that will enable landlords to liaise with CRBs concerning their tenants’ monthly payments. If successful, ULTAK secretary-general Ephraim Murigo says, people who have previously defaulted on rent payments will find it hard to rent in another location as landlords will demand a CRB clearance before moving houses.
“Today, landlords resort to a number of crafty ways like locking up a tenant’s belongings to recover unpaid rent. Once our plan is implemented, it will become difficult for tenants to dodge their responsibilities, and hence landlords will have an easier time,” Says Mr Murigo. Mr Murigo points out that landlords usually have a hard time resolving rental disputes with their tenants, even with the existence of rent restriction tribunals. The threat of messing up someone’s credit score, Mr Murigo hopes, will serve to keep the tenants honest.
“My association has come up with a formula whereby tenants will stop feeling like defaulting on rent is normal. We have approached credit reference bureaus to partner with them with an aim of listing all tenants who default on rent payment,” Mr Murigo said.
While terming the ULTAK proposal as a potentially good move that could weed out chronic rent defaulters from the real estate industry, Ms Diana Kituku, a financial expert, says that for the idea to come to fruition, a lot of factors need to be considered and discussed with relevant parties forehand.