admindisputes, a senior official has revealed.
It is a tribunal with a mandate to deal with the disputes and also acts as a special court, with sittings every Friday. A magistrate appointed by the Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities chairs the board. The Rent Board has always been accused of being biased towards tenants as it “favours” them over property owners.
The director of National Housing Mr Special Sibanda said tenants are protected by the Rent Regulations, Statutory Instrument 32 of 2007 that was gazetted in terms of the Housing and Building Act. Mr
Sibanda said Rent Regulations are subsidiary legislation that regulates relationship between tenants and landlords.
“However, it should be clear that the Rent Board’s co-business is not to set rentals but is there to solve disputes. Rentals are calculated by valuers using a designed formula which takes into consideration the inputs such as maintenance, council charges, administration charges and other costs.
“The market value in the respective area also helps to determine fair rental and the Rent Board only comes to intervene when landlords and tenants do not agree. However, market value is not always perfect because of accommodation shortage,” said Mr Sibanda.
He reiterated that rentals should be reasonable and fair, while lamenting the fact that some landlords have resorted not to accept lower income groups as tenants, and this amounted to discrimination, as rentals should not be pegged on incomes. Mr Sibanda pointed out that unless people come to the Rent Board with complaints about impasse on rentals with landlords, there was nothing the board could do. But he said landlords should comply with Rent Regulations when increasing rent. Mr Sibanda said the role of estate agents was to manage properties on behalf of landlords, while rentals could not be
pegged on tenants’ income because the landlord would not be able to obtain a fair return.
Online Reporter