In these difficult times thanks to COVID-19, landlords are having a hard time collecting rent from tenants, as usual. Some have resorted to uncouth way to punish the tenants by locking them outside just so they could pay up. One landlord in Kisumu is nursing wounds as wounds for switching off electricity so that tenants can pay up.
While a few of them have been kind enough, giving their tenants some grace period to get their financial status together, others have been defiant and have not stopped with their door to door trips. Today, the Landlords and Tenants Association (LATAK) has directed all tenants not to pay their rents arguing that COVID-19 has negatively impacted on businesses.
According to LATAK secretary general Ben Liyai the members have discussed the issue amongst themselves and their members over the issue and going forward they expect no tenants to be harassed by the landlords because of rent payment.
‘‘LATAK directs all tenants not to pay rent until when H.E Uhuru Kenyatta orders businesses to resume normal operations. All the landlords must forthwith stop evictions, harassment and disconnection of electricity and water to tenants,” he said.
Kenyans have been asking the government to come up with ways to save them from the evictions by these landlords. The association has also asked landlords having challenges in complying with the directives to send the word TENANT or LANDLORD to toll-free emergency number 20777 so that the association can pick up the matter.