Nairobi County Starts Freezing Accounts, Auctions Properties of Land Rate Defaulters

Nairobi County has begun implementing drastic measures against land rate defaulters, including freezing bank accounts and auctioning properties, in a bid to recover nearly Sh50 billion in outstanding debts.

The crackdown, which began Tuesday morning, follows expiration of multiple grace periods and waiver opportunities offered by Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration.

County officials started marking non-compliant buildings on Monday before deploying enforcement teams across the city at 8 am Tuesday.

“Our patience has run out,” said Tiras Wainaina Njoroge, Chief Officer for Revenue Administration in Nairobi.

“We have people running businesses across the city, who have big residences around the city and have not been making their payments despite us giving waivers and increasing the grace period for them to comply.”

According to county data, only about 50,000 of the city’s 256,000 land parcels are up to date with their payments.

Officials report that majority of defaulters are from high-end areas including Runda, Kileleshwa, Kilimani, Westlands, Kitisuru, Mountain View, Dagoretti North, CBD, South C, Kamukunji and Eastleigh.

The county government is targeting to collect more than Sh10 billion during the two-month enforcement drive.

Tactics will include:

– Freezing bank accounts of defaulters
– Auctioning properties with significant outstanding debts
– Collecting rent directly from tenants occupying properties with unpaid rates until debts are cleared

Mr. Njoroge emphasized that the county had made multiple attempts to reach defaulters before resorting to enforcement.

“We have sent messages to people, encouraging them to come and make payments. We have even considered that there are people who might be working from Monday to Friday, and we have left the customer care service open for Saturdays to ensure that people can come in and comply. We have even gone door to door.”

The county official insisted that all enforcement actions will comply with the National Rating Act, 2024.

This crackdown comes as Governor Sakaja’s administration faces pressure to increase revenue collection to fund city services and development projects.

Critics have questioned the timing of the aggressive enforcement approach, while business associations have called for more flexible payment arrangements.

Property owners with outstanding land rates are advised to contact City Hall immediately to make payment arrangements before enforcement actions affect their properties or financial accounts.