More Kenyans unable to pay rent in May as landlords become less considerate of plight-Survey

More Kenyans unable to pay rent in May as landlords become less considerate of plight-Survey

An estimated 37 percent of Kenyans could not meet rent payments in May as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 accelerated.

According to the survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) published Thursday, the rate of non-payments by Kenyans who would otherwise meet this obligation on time rose by nearly seven percent from 30.5 percent in April.

Reduced income remained the top reason for the inability to meet the monthly arrears ahead of temporary lay offs/ closure of businesses, delayed income and permanent layoffs at 25.7, 8.1 percent and 3.5 percent respectively.

Landlords meanwhile turned to be less considerate of their tenants financial flights as the rate of relief plunged from 8.7 percent in April to 6.7 percent.

Only 0.7 percent of tenants received full rent waivers while a further 6 percent of landlords issued temporarily relief.

Moreover, only 31.6 percent of Kenyans were able to meet their rent obligations in May on time as a further 23 percent paid rent but not in full.

Only a mere 8.6 percent of Kenyans had scheduled rent payments on time.

A majority 33 percent of Kenyans lacked in a coping mechanism to tackle the inability to pay rent while 26.9 percent of respondents pushed for the renegotiation of rental terms.

A further 14.5 percent of respondents managed to successfully defer rent payments to a later date.

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COVID-19 Rent

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