Tenant Bill: Govt courts landlords

A meeting between the Prime Minister and property-owners ended without any breakthrough after the landlords dismissed the proposed Tenant Bill as “a recipe for disaster” and warned that any attempts to force the Bill through Parliament, will ‘kill the economy’ and scare away investors.
Dr Ruhakana Rugunda met landlords and members of the Private Sector Foundation in his office on Friday and tried to convince them to change their position on the proposed Bill but without success. They reminded him that Lands minister Betty Amongi communicated that the Cabinet had accepted to allow landlords to charge in dollars.
Sources told Saturday Monitor that Dr Rugunda, who is also the leader of government business in Parliament, was trying to defuse the volatile standoff between the landlords and tenants before the proposed Bill is tabled in the House for first reading.

Not deterred
But after the landlords refused to change their position on the proposed Bill, Dr Rugunda, assured the landlords that Cabinet would revise some of the clauses in the Landlord-Tenant Bill, 2018. The landlords and real estate developers in the country have rejected a clause seeking to ban them from charging rent in foreign currency and reminded government about the principles of a free market economy.
Sources told Saturday Monitor that Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) leaders skipped the meeting because they were not given enough time to prepare themselves.
Mr Issa Ssekitto, the Kacita spokesperson, said they couldn’t attend the meeting because OPM officials telephoned them “just a few moments to the meeting” and it was not easy to mobilise a team to represent them.
However, in a closed door meeting at OPM, some landlords told Prime Minister that they have running contracts signed in dollars and wondered how the proposed bill will be implemented in such circumstances. Others told Dr Rugunda that tenancy agreements are negotiated through mutual arrangements.
Cabinet on April 9, during a meeting chaired by President Museveni at State House Entebbe, approved the Bill, with core objectives of defining the duties and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. According to State minister for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Bill is expected to be tabled later this month.

Controversial section
But what has made the proposed Bill controversial is section 23 (2) which states that; “All rent obligations or transactions shall be expressed, recorded and settled in the Shilling, unless otherwise provided for under any enactment.” However, without this particular clause, the tenants said the Bill will be “useless”.
The landlords say much as they are not restricting rent payment in foreign currency, there are tenants who willingly want to pay in that form.
The sources said, the landlords told the Prime Minister that they were not consulted in the process of drafting the Bill and therefore if passed into an law, it will have a lot of negative consequences on the real estate business.
The meeting with the Prime Minister followed another one with the State minister for Housing, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, which had ended with no breakthrough on the demand by landlords for the Bill to be dropped.
Mr Julius Mucunguzi, the communications advisor to the Prime Minister, confirmed he meeting but declined to reveal what transpired.
“He [Dr Rugunda] met them but he did not issue any statement. This means the issues discussed during the meeting are still secretive,” Mr Mucunguzi said.