Why Government needs to regulate rent

 

Housing is one of the basic needs that human beings cannot do without. Nairobi may be rejoicing but its expenses deny Kenyans rights; right to limited working hours. Nairobians rarely rest; wake up at 4am to spend 4hours in jam to avoid the awful boss, struggle up to midnight to make extra cash. Be careful, nowadays if you struggle for extra cash you'll be arrested for loitering.

The amount of rent paid in Nairobi is too much and still escalating at a very high rate. Imagine a student from a poor Turkana family with no relative in the city and because misfortunes never come singly, he or she misses accommodation in the University of Nairobi, where to? Hell? or maybe take the plight of a jobless graduate and because he or she has been tarmacking in the city for long, settles for a job paying 20,000 p.m. What do you expect them do to meet their expenses?

The amount monthly rent most Nairobians pay is either more than half of their salary or even more than their salary. That is why we all need Jesus, prayers.

The haves build their 30million-worth private residential homes in affluent suburbs, far from the rest of the population and from there they continue milking from us the little we have, in the form of rent. Life is actually becoming more unbearable to us, lower class, sorry lowest class.

Nairobi is actually the best case study of diminishing returns. Perhaps it's time the government comes in to set new rules and determine the amount of rent that should be charged or regulate it.

Take an example of Germany, initial rent is set by the market but cannot be 20% higher than the price of a similar property in the same city. Rent can be increased in case of inflation but not by more than 20% in three years. Proper maintenance by the landlord is incentivised and a tenant can only pay 100% rent if the house is in 100% good condition.

May be if the government embraces this German form of rent control, it will save lives, reduce crime rate.

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Housing rent