The Kenya Revenue Authority in partnership with City Hall has launched crackdown on landlords and home owners in Nairobi who have defaulted on the payment of land rates.
The taxman has indicated it will seize homes and office buildings whose rates are yet to be settled.
Several property owners in the city have already been served with notices requiring them to pay the dues or risk property seizure.
“You are supposed to have paid up all the rate fees for the plot, including any arrears owed to the Nairobi County Government. The County Government Finance Act of 2015 mandates the authority [KRA] to repossess any land property the owner defaults rate payment and reallocate it to the deserving,” a notice on one of the properties read in part.
KRA assumed control of revenue collection in Nairobi following the transfer of some functions from the county to the national government.
City Hall in 2018 amended the Revenue Collection Act 2015, allowing it to collect revenue from rental income in a bid to recover the Ksh15 billion it was owed as at the time.
The new act allows City Hall to seize property and recover the money its owed though rent collection.
“To know how much you owe the county government and to make any arrangement for payment of the same, visit KRA offices located at…sub county office grounds,” a joint notice from KRA and City Hall read in part.
A recent geospatial analysis conducted by the national government revealed that about 90 per cent of land owners in Nairobi had defaulted on land rates.
Recent data from City Hall indicated that KSh1.3 billion was collected from housing rent, fire inspection certificate and land rates from July to December 2020.
KRA has in the past attempted to lower rates and issue waivers as to woo members of the public into settling their dues, but with little success.
File image of City Hall, Nairobi County. |Photo| Courtesy|
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