Govt makes U-turn on Landlords-Tenants Bill

Kampala.

The government has made a U-turn on the proposed Landlords-Tenants Bill, 2018 and authorised landlords to charge rent in dollars and other foreign currency.
Sources close to Cabinet told this newspaper that Ministry of Lands has been instructed to remove the proposed ban on charging rent in foreign currency from the draft Bill before it is sent to Parliament for further scrutiny.
Lands Minister Betty Amongi confirmed the U-turn and explained that the process of rectifying some of the contested clauses was on-going.
She has also called for calm and promised to ensure that the landlords and tenants read from the same page.
Explaining what appears like a U-turn on the crux of the Bill, Dr Baryomunsi said: “Our proposal is that the unit of transaction in the payment of rent is Uganda Shillings but we are also saying, the issue of foreign currency should be mutually agreed between the landlord and the tenant benchmarked on the actual amount in our currency.”
After the landlords dismissed the proposed Bill as “a recipe for disaster”, cabinet according to sources, asked Housing Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi to start listening to the concerned stakeholders to get their views before the Bill is tabled.
On April 9, Cabinet approved the principles of the Bill, with core objectives of defining the duties and responsibilities of landlords and tenants.
However, the point of contention on the Bill has been the proposal for the government to regulate the mode of payment of rent, especially moving to stop the foreign currency transactions.
This angered landlords after it emerged that some of them had running contracts and that any attempts to compel landlords to charge rent in shillings would confuse the economy.
Last week, there were mixed reactions among the tenants and landlords with the architects saying the Bill was long overdue whereas those against accused government of sidelining stakeholders in drafting of the Bill. The government has now heeded to pressure from the landlords who accused it of moving to fail the real estate sector and job creation in the country.

Meetings
There were also fears that the Bill would disorganise the economy and scare away foreign investors.
Dr Baryomunsi yesterday confirmed having held a meeting with landlords under their umbrella body Uganda Developers Association over the disputed Bill.
He also talked of a follow-up meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda. “They are raising issues that we as government will have to look at in the later stages of the Bill especially at committee level in Parliament,” Mr Baryomunsi said.
The minister also revealed that he will today be leading both the landlords’ leadership and that of the tenants to the Prime Minister with whom they will have further engagements over the Bill.
Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) spokesperson Issa Ssekitto said the Bill has been long overdue and needed to be quickly expedited to save tenants from being harassed by landlords.