Landlords will be required to give tenants a 90-day notice before increasing rent if the Landlord and Tenant 2021 Bill is enacted into law in its current form.
The Bill which is in its second reading at the Senate further proposes the introduction of price controls for rent, based on the market value as opposed to landlords arbitrarily setting the rent.
Landlords and tenants have on most occasions been at loggerheads over rent increments and forceful evictions.
This can be attributed to poor regulation as existing laws have gaps that fail to clearly stipulate the tenancy relationship.
However, Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina took issue with the bill for not spelling out where tenants’ deposits will be safeguarded during the period of occupancy.
“You cannot just evict a Kenyan living in your property without consent by the tribunal in the event that tenant has not paid rent…These are some of the issues that both the tenants and lands must be alive to,” Ole Kina said.
The bill stipulates that a tenant who does not oppose the increase after receiving the notice within 30 days, will be deemed to have accepted the rent increase.
