adminMarvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
Gwanda Municipality has resolved to lock out several residents who have refused to vacate its houses despite being served with eviction notices.Council had given the tenants up to the end of last month to move out of the houses but many ignored the eviction notices.
The move to evict the tenants follows a recent audit that revealed that some leaseholders are subletting council houses and making “a killing” by charging about fivefold what they are paying as rentals to council.
Council charges its tenants not more than $40 monthly rentals but subletting has seen illegal occupants paying as much as $200 a month for the same houses.
Council is leasing out 413 houses in Marriage Quarters, Senondo, Geneva and Phakama suburbs.
The chairperson of the health and housing committee Councillor Thulani Moyo said this week that council resolved to evict all illegal occupants. “We realised that most people who signed lease agreements are no longer occupying the houses but are instead renting them out.
“We want to correct that because we have many people who are on the council’s housing waiting list who should benefit from council accommodation,” said Clr Moyo.
He said many of the leaseholders had relocated to other places but were still collecting rentals from the illegal tenants every month.
Clr Moyo said some of the leaseholders died a long time ago while others “inherited” the houses from relatives.
He however said the clean-up exercise would not affect immediate family members of leaseholders who had died.
derick.khumalo