About 200,000 Nairobi landlords could have their property auctioned by the county government.

This is after it emerged that only 50,000 of the total 250,000 landlords paid their annual land rates to the county.

The county is thus staring at reduced revenue from land rates and is planning to auction properties whose landlords have not paid land rates.

“If land owners were to comply, the county would generate over Ksh30 billion annually but because of defaulting, we normally give ourselves a target of Ksh7 billion from those willing to pay the land rates out of the waiver,” explained Nairobi’s Chief Officer for Revenue Administration Wilson Gakuya. He added the outstanding arrears have placed huge financial constraints on the county government to deliver on its projects.

As it stands, the county has raised Ksh3 billion from land rates in the current financial year out of the Ksh7 billion target needed to be raised by the end of the 2023/24 Financial year.

The funds are meant to realise the overall revenue target of Ksh19.99 billion in the current financial year. Gakuya explained that enforcement action would be taken on those who default following the end of the waiver period that runs from May 20, 2024, to June 20, 2024.

“We can also advise clients or tenants to pay their rent to the county government other than the landlords until the county recovers its dues,” he noted.

Gakuya attributed the reasons for failing to pay the land rates to court cases that have dragged on for years and in other cases the landlords purchasing the land and leaving it unabated, hence seeing no need to remit the payments to the county.

How Landlords Can Check If They Appear on the Defaulting List

Click nairobi.go.ke/notice-to-rate-defaulters-of-the-nairobi-city-county/

to proceed to the Nairobi County government website.Click on the notice published by Patrick Analo, County Secretary and Head of County Public Service.

At the end of the notice, you will find two lists of land rate defaulters; those who had obtained their invoices and all whose properties were yet to be billed.

For those whose properties were unbilled, the county listed the land reference number and total outstanding arrears.

The county government also published a 400-page document for Nairobi land owners who had obtained their invoices and the amount billed.

Click either of the links and trace the reference number to ascertain your status.

Those who had paid their land rates but still appeared on the list were advised to ignore the notice.