Property owners jittery over City Hall’s draft land taxes

A City Hall plan to raise taxes on land owners continues to draw opposition from Nairobi residents.

Property owners pay land rates at 25 percent of the value of an unimproved site value, based on the 1980 valuation roll. City Hall reckons it is losing revenue because land values have grown over the past four decades.

The administration of acting Governor Ann Kananu has put out a new draft valuation roll and residents and property owners have protested.

The Runda Association, for example, said that though City Hall insists that the rates will rise by a very small margin, no specific numbers have been proposed.

Sh28 million

Association manager Agatha Kagia said that under the proposed new valuation the least valued property in Runda will be Sh28 million, meaning residents will have to part with more in taxes annually.

“The concern is on the rates. From what they made us understand is that they have still not settled on the new rates that they will charge,” she said.

“Our biggest fear is that if they retain the 25 per cent, then we will have to pay millions as land values currently are more than 10 times what it used to be in 1980.”

Higher levies

The document proposes the new rates to be based on between 0.1 and 0.15 percent of the current value of undeveloped land, setting the stage for higher levies.

City Hall has been receiving public views on the County Draft Valuation Roll since May 21, and officials will close the window on Friday, June 18. The document is also available for inspection at Main City Hall, Ground Floor.

On Wednesday, residents across all 17 sub-Counties shared their views on the document.

A valuation roll is a public legal document that consists of property information of all ratable properties within the boundaries of a rating authority.

The document has been in preparation since 2016, but it was not tabled before the Nairobi County Assembly until on May 20 this year.

[email protected]