The Tenants’ Right to Housing in Kenya: Is There Need to Address This Issue during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the lives of people in the world. Most of the governments have imposed restrictive measures on movement and association to ensure that the disease does not spread further into their countries. The government of Kenya has imposed a curfew to restrict movement of the disease. Further, there are regions in Kenya where movement into and out of those regions has been curtailed. The livelihoods of Kenyans from all walks of life have been distracted. Jobs have been lost. The economy of the country is dwindling. Kenyans have been advised to stay at home. The prevailing circumstances have forced some of the Kenyans to stay at home. The directive to stay at home to fight the pandemic presents a unique situation in the country. It requires people to stay indoors to reduce the transmission of the illness. The ball falls into the court of each and every citizen to seek shelter. However, due to the loss of jobs, most of the Kenyans wonder whether they will have shelter. The tenants, who have no source of income at the moment, wonder where they will get the money to pay their landlords to ensure they are not kicked out of their houses. Further, due to the declining economy, most of the tenants do not have sufficient cash to pay their rent. Failure to pay rent will render them homeless. Is there need to address this issue? Should we allow the landlords to deal with the tenants who do not pay rent? In my paper, I seek to address this delicate issue. To begin with, I will balance the rights between the landlord and the tenant. Later, I will recommend on what is to be done to ensure that this issue is resolved amicably.