The Nairobi City County Government has extended the land rates waiver period to January 9 after an unprecedented surge of landowners thronged City Hall and sub-county customer service centres ahead of the initial December 31 deadline.
County Receiver of Revenue Tiras Njoroge said the extension is a one-off administrative measure aimed at easing congestion, clearing long queues, and ensuring more ratepayers benefit from the waiver before strict enforcement resumes under the law.
According to Njoroge, the county opted to add a few extra days after experiencing overwhelming traffic from landowners seeking last-minute relief as the deadline approached.
“We extended the waiver to January 9 purely to attend to the overwhelming queues we witnessed as the December 31 deadline approached. This is to ensure those who turned up in good faith are served. After January 9, the waiver will end, and we will apply the National Rating Act in full to all defaulters,” Njoroge said.
He reiterated that the festive waiver was deliberately designed as a final soft landing for landowners to regularise their accounts before the county rolls out tougher recovery measures.
“This waiver is the last soft landing. Once it ends, we will fully apply the law to recover outstanding land rates, including penalties and interest,” he warned.
Njoroge noted that persistent non-compliance has placed an unfair burden on a small fraction of compliant ratepayers, weakening the county’s ability to deliver essential services.
“It is not sustainable that only about 20 percent of landowners are paying rates. Roads, waste management, health services and public lighting depend on this revenue. Everyone must contribute fairly,” he said.
The county has also cautioned the public against fraudsters claiming they can fast-track payments, urging landowners to use official channels only, including sub-county revenue offices and the Nairobi Pay platform.
According to City Hall, only about 50,000 of the city’s 250,000 registered land parcels are currently compliant. Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja warned that the revenue gap directly undermines service delivery and signalled tougher legal action, including the clamping of properties belonging to persistent defaulters once enforcement begins.
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