- The 2024 Affordable Housing Regulations aim to streamline the process of housing allocation and provide financial support where needed.
- When push comes to shove, the regulations say that the board may enter into an agreement with the beneficiary to restructure the loan.
The proposed Affordable Housing Regulations are spelling doom for payment defaulters as those who fail to pay for four consecutive months will lose their units.
The draft regulations published by the ministry provide that the government will repose homes and housing units once the beneficiaries fall back in payment of their monthly obligations.
The 2024 Affordable Housing Regulations aim to streamline the process of housing allocation and provide financial support where needed.
The proposed regulations also seek to ensure that the benefits of government housing initiatives are accessible to all eligible Kenyans.
Under the regulations that are being taken through public participation, the board charged with allocating the units will take them up and reallocate them to other eligible applicants.
At the same time, the board may decide to change the person's affordable housing unit to a lower housing value unit once a beneficiary defaults for four months in a row.
When push comes to shove, the regulations say that the board may agree with the beneficiary to restructure the loan.
"Where a person fails to remedy the default as required under sub-regulation 2 for four consecutive months, the board shall take repossession of the housing unit,'' reads the proposed regulations in part.
In terms of being allocated a lower-value housing unit upon default, one can benefit from that if payments already made cover the purchase price of the lower-value unit.
According to the regulations, this will only happen if the defaulter has not entered into a restructuring of the facility with the board.
Defaulters will receive a written notice from the board, giving them a chance to settle their dues, failing which consequences will follow.
The tough regulations would make it difficult for serial defaulters to continue being in the affordable housing units allocation programme.
The ministry has started collecting public views on the regulations before they are submitted to Parliament for approval.
The Affordable Housing Act introduces a 1.5 per cent levy on the gross salary of each employee or an individual’s received or accrued gross income not subject to the Levy.
Employers are required to match each employee’s contribution by contributing an equal amount to the Levy amount.