service charge after buying house

Business
1

Kenya’s homebuyers are grappling with the ever-rising and arbitrary service charges that have significantly raised the cost of owning property and made nonsense of their efforts to escape the burden of paying rents.

Property developers say the charges go towards meeting the cost of services such as security, backup electricity, water, cleaning, waste management and health clubs. But homeowners have found the inclusion of these charges in property purchase agreements unacceptable leading to fierce court battles in some cases.

Homeowners are particularly upset by the ease with which the developers set and increase the fees that they continue to levy long after the houses have been sold to them. In Nairobi, for instance, monthly service charges for residential houses range from Sh3,000 to Sh50,000 depending on location and the range of services offered.

Commercial office space is currently priced at an average Sh20 per square foot in the city and can rise up to Sh45 per square foot with the provision of common marketing services for the tenants. A service charge of Sh30,000 per month held constant for 20 years — the typical lifespan of a mortgage — amounts to Sh7.2 million (enough to buy another unit) and continues to accumulate for a lifetime.

The fees also become a key driver of rent inflation by forcing those buying houses to lease out to charge higher premiums in pursuit of reasonable profit margins.

Retirees, whose earnings fall substantially over time, are among the demographics hit hardest by the high service charges that remain constant or rise with time.

2

Why would you pay service charge to a property developer once you have bought your house? The houses now belong to you and other owners and not the property developer…Owners form a management company and decide what is the best service charge rate to charge to maintain their digs…

3

Unadhani soja, cleaning staff, security lights, communal water ya irrigation hulipwa na hewa? Pay service charge happily bila kusumbua

4

That is the price of living in a cabro paved, well manicured, watered, secure and chokosh free environment. Kama mtu hataki, anunue ajenge Ruai Kamulu akanukiwe na mafi akipigwa na dust

5

Sindio. Sio kupeleka vinyambi community kama hio halafu waanze kupiga kelele garbage collection haiko, security lights hakuna na hawataki kulipa service charge

6

50k pm service charge? Hata nikiwa birrionea heri ninunue shears
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yangu mwenyewe nijikatie hio maua ya estate on my downtime.

7

shida ni developer ndio anaamua wakaazi hawana say.

8

labda agreement ni developer ata manage ata baada ya kukuuzia.

9

Because if they had a say wangelipa 100 for all those services they expect

10

Residents wangekuwa na management company yao

gated communities nikupimiwa hewa tu huendi kwa pool,gym,club house but lazima ulipie hizo vitu.

11

Wapi huku? We pay for them we have access to them.

12

Unanunua nyumba ukifikiria umewacha story ya rent ,then boom service charge

13

Yenye iko karibu kufikia the house rent you were running away from

14

And you get to live in wonderful spaces

15

You can imagine an estate like Nyayo Embakasi with over 4,774 units and each resident paying 2,500 as service charge, how much NSSF collects.

12M per month. I’m 100% sure the wage bill for groundsmen, management office, security, etc does not deplete the kitty.

16

This is what late stage capitalism looks like. There is no escape, they will get you one way or another. :smiley:

17

Lane’s ,stick to your Lane’s

18

Hapo Kaptagat Rd wao talipisha wewe safis charge ya ngapi?

19

40k only

20

i thought there are agreements to transfer management of these properties to the owners… so that they set the amounts they want to be paying
for maintenance ?? :oops::oops::oops:…
lakini hii Kenya kuna ukora…you may even find some title deeds still in the developers name