Gweru defaulter rate rises Property owners forced to revise rentals

GWERU has been characterised by a high rent defaulter rate which has peaked to 60 percent owing to a plethora of challenges, chief among them, the liquidity crunch prevailing in the economy.
This has forced property owners to revise downwards rentals by up to 40 percent.
Trevor Dollar Real Estate director, Victor Wasara said some of the tenants have defaulted rentals for up to four months.
He said they have since devised plans to recover the monies.
“The challenges that we’ve is that there’s no industry to talk about in Gweru at the moment and the companies that’ve remained are facing challenges which has seen some of them failing to pay their workers on time. This has had a ripple effect on rental payments where some tenants have now gone for four months without paying rent.
“We’ve resorted to following up on some of our clients on a daily basis, sending bulk sms as well as locking out some tenants especially those in the Central Business District to enforce payment,” said Wasara.
In light of the increased rent defaulters, Wasara said landlords have been forced to revise downwards their rentals.
“Due to challenges in paying rents, there has been a number of shops and houses which have been empty for long periods forcing property owners to reduce their rentals by up to 40 percent. For instance a three-bedroomed house in low the density surbubs which averaged $500 has gone down to $350 while a four-roomed house in high density suburbs has now come down to $180 from an average of $250 to $300,” he said.
Trustlink Real Estate consultant, Martin Chivhoko attributed the low occupancy rate to new housing developments and new suburbs which have been developed in the Midlands capital.
“There’ve been many property developments in recent years which have seen suburbs like Clifton Park and Woodlands Park coming up. This has eased the accommodation pressure in the city.
“You will also appreciate that the student accommodation at the Midlands State University has also eased because the same factors have also come into play where there has been massive housing developments in Senga,” said Chivhoko.