More than 200 families occupying 40 units rental houses of four-storey buildings in Thindigua village, Kiambu town, have been ordered to vacate after one unit started sinking.
The rental houses were built and completed in 2014.
After a downpour two weeks ago, pillars supporting one the houses started to cave in.
"We have never had any issues with our houses until after a downpour that occurred two weeks ago that the beams started sinking," a resident said.
Brighton Wekesa, an employee of a mover firm, said they have been evacuating tenants from the building for two days. He said some of the houses have visible cracks.
"You can see cracks in some of the houses," Wekesa said.
Tenant Chelsea Wanjiru said they have to vacate for their safety despite the move being disruptive.
“The abrupt move is quite costly and it is not easy to find a house on such short notice. Our children also go to school nearby but it is better to be safe than sorry,” Wanjiru said.
Kiambu lands, housing, physical planning, municipal administration and urban development executive Salome Muthoni said they received a call that a building was sinking and mobilised a multisectoral team to go and assess the situation.
"We involved a security team, the National Construction Authority and a team from the county government after we received a call that there was a building sinking in Thindigua village," she said.
Muthoni said they were told the building started showing signs of sinking about one and a half weeks ago.
She said they had a session with the developer who was cooperative and the engineer who constructed the houses.
"The Kiambu government has the approvals for the development which has been in existence for the last 10 years. There are 40 units with occupants," Muthoni said.
She said together with the developer and security team, they decided that tenants should vacate immediately to avert a disaster.
"We have reached a decision that all the tenants should vacate their houses today to prevent any incidents while our engineers are investigating to find out why the building is sinking and report the cause," Muthoni said.
She said previous cases of building collapsing in the county informed a decision to form a multisectoral team to check all upcoming buildings to ensure they have proper documentation and that the developers are compliant.
Muthoni said they will also assess older buildings to ensure they are safe for people to live in.
"We have flagged a number of buildings. The exercise is done weekly and the county engineers give a report of buildings to ensure they are compliant," she said.
"Where need be, we have asked tenants to vacate and ensure that the developer and his team, including the engineer, do as instructed. Our team goes back to check whether the recommendations have been implemented before people are allowed to occupy such buildings."
Muthoni urged developers to follow the law when building so lives are not lost and they do not lose their investment.
"It is important that developers do the right thing. The Kiambu government is committed to making the approval process friendly and easy for developers," she said.
Muthoni said the physical planning department is working on ensuring approvals do not take too long and developers should desist from taking shortcuts.
