Residents of Nairobi County who have purchased or rented apartments from developers will soon have to pay sectional rates in addition to value capture.
Charles Kerich, a member of the County Executive Committee (CECM), disclosed this in an interview with Spice FM on Monday, May 23.
Developers have been paying the same prices for apartments as for undeveloped land, which is why Kerich believes value capture is crucial.
According to the CECM, value capture would guarantee equitable land charges and broaden the county’s revenue source.
He clarified the unfairness of the current land charges by saying, “Let us take, for example, that you have one acre in Upper Hill; on that one acre stands a tower with 50 stories paying the same as that one-acre next door that has nothing.”
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Kerich said that because they were using water and sewage services in addition to a road network, everyone in that building had to pay rates based on the floor they occupied.
“Even though you won’t divide this one acre, you can capture the value of each floor so that each owner pays rates in addition to their share,” he clarified.
Speaking of sectional property, Kerich disclosed that the county was now working to completely implement the Sectional Property Act in order to prevent a small number of people from bearing the entire cost of land rates on subdivided properties.
He clarified the currently being phased out approach by saying, “What happens is that if you are on one acre and you have 60 apartments, the rates charged on that land are undeveloped site value, meaning you are charged as if there is nothing on that property.”
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“Let’s say you have 60 apartments and you need to pay Ksh60,000. You can allocate and say everyone pays Ksh1,000, but a lot of people will end up footing the bill for the people who don’t want to pay.”
In order to prevent the developer from receiving payment in one single sum, the Act will now grant each apartment owner complete ownership of their unit.
The CECM clarified that everyone would have their own title and pay their own rates to sectional property, which would protect them from being impacted by the defaults of their neighbours.
He declared that the ability to take out loans against the property without having to deal with the developer was a win for Kenyans purchasing or renting apartments.
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Furthermore, the government of Governor Johnson Sakaja will benefit because this will guarantee higher revenues.
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This generation of politicians are money hungry and want to take up the land of the people. This is neocolonialism in our counties led by Nairobi. We shall say no to this and eventually going to the “forests” like our forefathers. Bloodshed if need be.