Tenants fail to pay rentals

Business Reporter



BULAWAYO has registered a significant increase in cases of commercial tenants failing to pay rentals on time, the secretary of the Commercial Rent Board, Mr Mandla Sibindi, has said.
He attributed the increase to the prevailing economic situation saying a number of companies were not operating at full capacity.
He said it was difficult for commercial tenants to pay their rentals on time when their businesses were not doing well.
“We have witnessed an increase in the number of tenants that are failing to pay their rentals on time to the property owners. As it is many companies cannot afford to pay their rentals on time while others are preferring to pay them in instalments,” he said.
Mr Sibindi urged tenants and property owners to have negotiations on the payment of rentals adding that this would enable tenants to pay their rentals in portions whenever their businesses were not doing well.
He said both property owners and tenants have put the blame on service providers adding that property owners would tell tenants to pay “huge” rentals on the grounds that they were service charges.
Mr Sibindi said the other factor that led to failure by tenants to pay rentals on time was that most companies in the city do not have written lease agreements adding that landlords and commercial tenants should have a lease agreement breaking down the rental charges.
“Tenants and property owners should have a lease agreement breaking down the rental charges to minimise rental conflicts as the agreement will account for every cent that tenants are paying,” he said.
A number of tenants have had their electricity and water supplies cut off by service providers for failing to pay their rates in time leading to some of them blaming the property owners for failing to pay the utility charges.
On the other side, property owners have blamed service providers for “exorbitant” charges which they then decide to pass on to their tenants.
Last year the Commercial Rent Board noted that Bulawayo had registered a remarkable increase in the number of cases involving property owners and tenants failing to reach a consensus on rental charges.

Source: Chronicle

Published here: 8 February 2010