Family vacates house over fears adjacent building may collapse

Tenants were on Wednesday ordered to vacate this building in Kahawa West, Nairobi, after it was condemned by county officials. EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • A team from the Nairobi City County issued a one-hour vacate notice to Ms Mwangi and all the tenants occupying the condemned building on Wednesday.
  • He said an audit team from City Hall, the national government and the NCA was going around inspecting houses in Nairobi to establish the ones that are poorly constructed.
  • “Police can then take him to court and charge him with malicious damage to your property,” he told the woman, adding that this would be the only way for her to seek compensation.

A family in Nairobi has had to vacate the house it has called home for the past seven years because a neighbour failed to comply with construction regulations.

The neighbour, who works with the Murang’a County Government, has allegedly built a six-storey flat on a weak foundation in Kahawa West Estate. Since it may collapse any time, Ms Sarah Mwangi and her family had to move to avoid a disaster.

By yesterday, the family was still putting up at a friend’s place, while looking for an alternative house to rent.
A team from the Nairobi City County issued a one-hour vacate notice to Ms Mwangi and all the tenants occupying the condemned building on Wednesday.

“I agree that we must vacate for our own safety but I have no idea of where to go. I was not prepared for such an eventuality. I don’t even have money to transport our household goods,” Ms Mwangi, a tailor and a mother of four, told the Nairobi County lands officer S. G. Mwangi, who led the team.

The team also included officials from the National Construction Authority (NCA).
They had come to oversee people vacating the building after the notice to the owner.

“We have given them (the tenants) one hour to vacate as the building can collapse any time and we don’t want people to die over something that can be prevented,” Mr Mwangi told journalists.

POORLY CONSTRUCTED

He said an audit team from City Hall, the national government and the NCA was going around inspecting houses in Nairobi to establish the ones that are poorly constructed.

“What do you want me to do and what is going to be my fate?” an emotional Ms Mwangi asked the team.
Ironically, she is the one who raised the alarm over the impending danger after she noticed cracks in her house.

Her neighbour had started expanding his building, adding three more storeys. She suspected the building was the cause of the problem.
“I reported the matter to county officials, who came and confirmed that the cracks were caused by the other building,”

Mr Mwangi told her that the county government did not have a budget to compensate her and the only thing she could do was to report her neighbour to the police.

“Police can then take him to court and charge him with malicious damage to your property,” he told the woman, adding that this would be the only way for her to seek compensation.

Ms Mwangi said she and her husband struggled to raise the money to put up their house. She said her husband engages in casual jobs to supplement the family’s income. Three out of their four children are in school.

“Imagine struggling for all those years, saving money to put up a house you call your own, only to be told to vacate because of another person’s misdeeds. This is not acceptable,” said Ms Mwangi.

The vacate order also caught tenants on the condemned building by surprise.
“I have only been informed today that we must move and I will have to seek accommodation at a neighbour’s place,” said Ms Beatrice Nyaguthii.