City Hall starts crackdown on wealthy land rate defaulters

What you need to know:

City Hall says it has adopted the geographic information system, a technology that allows for quick verification of residential locations.
The bulk of the outstanding rates owed to the county stems from accrued penalties.
John Ntoiti, chairman of the Rates Steering Committee says total amount owed stands at about Sh60 billion, stretching as far back to when the defunct City Council of Nairobi was in charge.

City Hall Tuesday started attaching properties in Nairobi’s upmarket neighbourhoods over unpaid land rates.

County government officials took over a number of properties in Kilimani, mostly residential units, and will from Thursday move to Westlands and Muthaiga, which house the city’s well-heeled.

“We have many defaulters in the affluent estates. The owners will have to pay or else we will alert our legal team to get court orders allowing us to auction the property,” said John Ntoiti, chairman of the Rates Steering Committee.

He added that they had adopted the geographic information system, a technology that allows for quick verification of residential locations.

City Hall said it had notified the affected property owners of an impending crackdown prior to the operation, asking them to honour their payment obligations to avoid being inconvenienced.

Accruing penalties

According to Dr Ntoiti, several property owners have not paid their annual rates over the past six years despite previous amnesty campaigns that waived accruing penalties.

The bulk of the outstanding rates owed to the county stems from accrued penalties.

Dr Ntoiti said the total amount owed stands at about Sh60 billion, stretching as far back to when the defunct City Council of Nairobi was in charge. The level of compliance among commercial properties in the central business district stands at 80 per cent.

City Hall imposes a three per cent interest a month on the defaulted period as provided under Section 16 (3) of the Rating Act. The defaulters also part with an administrative fee of Sh50,000 to cover expenses incurred while visiting their property.

According to the Rating Act, occupants or tenants of a clamped property are required to pay rent to the county until it recovers the outstanding debt. City Hall has collected Sh2.9 billion in land rates in the current fiscal year ending next month, against a target of Sh4 billion.

This was despite automating its payments system last year to seal loopholes that lead to revenue leakages. City Hall also launched a special code that mobile phone subscribers can use to make payments, alongside a web portal that allows for online payment.