Apartment owners must also pay land rates

 By Harold Ayodo

Anxiety is high among property owners as the City Council of Nairobi tightens the noose around necks of land rate defaulters.

The rates department at City Hall has been a beehive of activity as property owners scrambled to pay up within the waiver period or risk public auction.

For starters, the local authority kicked off a 28-day campaign dubbed “Operation Clamp Down: Jiokoe Sasa” on land rate defaulters.

The campaign sought to encourage payment of arrears on land rates by offering waivers on penalties before repossessing and auctioning property.

 Town Clerk Roba Duba has been a common face on television screens issuing reminders for defaulters to take advantage of the extension of waiver periods.

The last time I checked, City Hall had collected nearly Sh1.3 billion from the expected Sh16 billion during the waiver period that expires this week.

However, even as the local authority steps up its fight on defaulters to improve services, many residents are unaware that they are debtors.

First, registered property owners must pay land rates between January 1 and March 31 annually, failure to which they risk losing the property should City Council move and auction the property to recover the rates.

Take the case of Patricia Njambi who sent an email asking whether she needs to pay rates for her apartment in Kilimani.

“I have lived in my apartment for five years…I have two other apartments that I have rented out…do I also pay rates to City Hall?’ Njambi asked.

Legally, owners of apartments must also pay land rates as they are registered owners or have leases from the private developers.

prudent measures

Therefore, it is prudent for apartment owners to present their ownership documents to the chief valuer at City Hall to be included in the valuation roll.

For leaseholders of apartments, they may pay the apportioned rates as members of a group.

Separately, there are also people who are servicing mortgages and banks hold as security their title deeds or lease certificates.

Such owners may not be exempted, as the local authority requires them to provide copies of their documents to the chief valuer for valuation.

However, they may be exempted if the mortgage agreement expressly states that the lender will be paying rates to City Hall.

special instances

There are also people who have bought plots or houses through their chamas (investment clubs) or saccos and have share certificates.

The share certificate holders can avoid their property from auction by paying rates as a group on the mother/head title deed.

Alternatively, the chief valuer can make considerations under instances where survey plans are available or they divide the total debts according to sizes of their property.

For Barrack Otieno who lives in the US, his default on the annual revenue is because he is abroad.

The last time I checked, City Hall had installed an electronic funds transfer system where one can wire money to the council’s account with a local commercial bank.

But Kenyans in the Diaspora are not alone as even locals are unaware that rates are payable via other avenues apart from City Hall cash office.

Property owners can also deposit the arrears to the bank account or via electronic funds transfer and forward the details and plot numbers to the rates office.

City Hall could have shifted to top gear the collection of land rates following legal provisions.

Take the case of the Rating Act, which empowers local authorities to seek court orders to auction properties at forced sale values.

They can also take over the property as either tenants or landlords to collect rent until recovery of outstanding arrears!

The leadership and Integrity Bill of 2012 may also give as push to local authorities following provisions that public officers must pay all forms of taxes.

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The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

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