The economic recession in the country has created a lot of disharmony between landlords and tenants in the counties, and the Nakuru County rent tribunal offices have appealed to aggrieved parties to follow the law and adhere to legal procedures.
Interviewed by KNA today Morris Ayiego, the officer at the Nakuru Rent Tribunal offices, said their major role was to create harmony between landlords and tenants.
He said the Rent Restriction Tribunals are established under Section 4 of the rent restriction Act.Cap.296 of the laws of Kenya, and there are ten such tribunals in the country, such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Nyeri, Eldoret, Embu, Lamu and Garissa.
He said the Tribunal sittings are held on a rotational basis in those stations as set out in the annual calendar, but in the event of an urgent matter, the file is sent to Nairobi for hearing under a certificate of urgency.
However, he reminded tenants that shelter was one of their basic rights and therefore, it’s unfair to delay or fail to pay rent because some owners have taken bank loans and some depend on such payments for medications and other personal upkeeps.
He said it was also a breach of the law for any landlord to evict a tenant without the authority of the tribunal, adding, the house owners who go to extremes such as removing doors, water or electricity connections, to force non-paying tenants out of the house was against the law.
The chairman of landlords in Nakuru city, Julius Kimani said, in the past, a number of house owners were neither aware of the role of the tribunal but nowadays many of their members use the services of the tribunal to evict uncooperative tenants.
Additionally, he said the court proceedings were done in an informal manner and does not observe civic procedure rules like the ordinary courts, hence there was no need for the complainant to hire an advocate.
