NHC embarks on two-month campaign to collect rent arrears

National Housing Corporation (NHC) has embarked on a two-month campaign to collect rent arrears standing at 21bn/-.

Addressing the press on Sunday in Dar es Salaam, the corporation’s Public Affairs and Information Manager Mr Muungano Saguya said unpaid rent has accumulated from both current and ex-tenants.

In September last year, NHC came up with a combination of measures to collect rent arrears that stood at 26bn/- by June 2022. The objective was to prevent further accumulation.

Mr Suguya said from that time to-date, they managed to collect 5bn/- and the outstanding remains at 21bn/-.

He said they had launched a door to door campaign to trace defaulters, who include individuals, government ministries and private companies, issuing a two months ultimatum for both active and ex-tenants to settle their unpaid rents

“NHC gives a period of 60 days, for both current and ex-tenants from 01/11/2022 to 30/12/2022 to make sure that they settle all the arrears owed before legal action are taken against the defaulters,” Mr Saguya said.

He further added that for the active tenants who will fail to pay their debt within the announced period, the corporation will terminate their contracts and evict them from NHC’s houses.

“We will also confiscate their properties and auction them to offset the unpaid rent,” he said, while adding that for tenants who have been given various notices, the implementation will continue as the notices direct.

He, however, said that they have received encouraging response, with several current tenants signing contracts to pay the arrears in installments.

“The National Housing Corporation urges the tenants to fulfill their obligations by paying their rents to avoid the embarrassment of being forcibly evicted from the houses they occupy,” he said.

He said the challenge remained on how to collect debt owed by ex-tenants, noting it was somehow difficult to trace individuals, some of whom may have died, and companies that have changed names or ceased to exist.

He said they were seeking the assistance of the National Identification Agency (NIDA) and the Business Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA) to trace the ex-tenants. They are also revisiting the debtors’ ledger to update it.

Expounding about the ex-tenants, who have left without settling their debts, Mr Saguya said they should visit the nearby NHC offices to be given a payment procedure including the control number so that they can offset their bills.

He said the uncooperative defaulters will be taken to court and handed to brokers to be forced to pay. In case of current tenants, their security deposits are confiscated and they may be forcefully evicted and their property auctioned to offset the debt.

Apart from that, Mr Saguya said NHC is set to complete the improvement of digital information system by January next year, which will make it easy to monitor tenants’ rents settlement.

NHC Acting Director of Property Management, Mr Elias Msese said that the tendency by some dishonest tenants to evade rent settlement was intolerable, vowing that the NHC will never stop to hunt them down and take appropriate action.