Telposta Pension Scheme has moved to implement a court order that allowed it to evict tenants on its properties in Mombasa for failing to pay rent for over a decade.
According to the scheme which manages pensions of over 8,000 pensioners of the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, the outstanding rent arrears date as back as 2012.
The exercise is currently being conducted at properties in Mombasa, where it has properties valued at over Sh100 million, with failure to pay rent by occupiers at two of its estates, valued at over Sh70 million, seeing arrears accrue to over Sh79 million as of July 2024.
A court ruling on November 27 last year ordered the tenants to vacate from the scheme’s houses in Makande and Bombolulu, Mombasa, after failing to pay rent since 2012, failure to which they should be evicted.
“Based on evidence on record and after considering the submissions made herein, the court finds and holds that the plaintiff (Telposta Pension Scheme) has proved its case against the defendants,” the ruling reads in part.
The former employees of Telkom Kenya Limited have since 2008 been in court trying to force the pension scheme to enforce void sale agreements.
A void sale agreement is a contract that is not legally binding.
According to the Scheme, led by CEO Peter Rotich, the majority of non-paying tenants at its estates in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu had sublet the premises and were not remitting rents to the TelPosta Pension Scheme.
Last week Thursday, the scheme conducted evictions at the Makande Posta Flats after tenants failed to adhere to the court order.
A two-bedroomed unit was going for Sh6,100 per month at the estate located within the Island with proximity to the Central Business District. Similar units in neighbouring Tudor, Makupa and Sparky are averaging between Sh13,000 and Sh Sh25,000.
According to real estate expert Fredrick Omondi, Telposta scheme has not been getting value for its estates which are strategically located within the urban set-ups, where similar houses are fetching between Sh18,000 and an upwards of Sh40,000 in the different towns.
“If you look at the prevailing
market trends, these are high-value properties that are strategically
located and should be giving back
higher returns on investment and benefiting the pensioners more. That
aside, how do you live in a house for
more than ten years without paying
rent and expect the landlord to smile
at you?,” posed Omondi.
