The North West Housing Corporation (NWHC) has threatened court action against tenants who have been subletting and collecting rental payments on its behalf but not paying it to the entity.
The entity has also sworn to evict the government employees who are also occupying the flats without paying rent despite receiving housing allowance from the employer.
The move comes as the corporation has announced its debt collection and revenue enhancement drive, due to the tenancy debt which have piled up to unacceptable levels leaving it to pay the price for non-payment of services on its properties that includes Kagiso, Kamogelo and Wimpy flats in Mahikeng.
The entity’s Chief Executive Officer Bishop Sello Mogodiri told YOUFM Newshour that they will take legal action against defaulting tenants with court eviction orders expected to be obtained from next week.
“We have been able to categorize them, and we have investigated. We have also been receiving calls from neighbours informing us of people conducting illegal subletting businesses in our properties.We have exhausted all the administrative and legal remedies and now we are communicating to say we have come to the end of being nice and a carrying government.
“We now have to implement the law to the latter which will include evictions, selling people’s properties, garnishing their pensions and opening criminal cases against those who have been collecting rentals on their behalf and not paying it to the North West Housing Corporation,” warned Mogodiri.
Furthermore, he said that a process to evict the civil servants who are defaulting in their payments is underway.
“We have started at the housing cooperation in terms of the employees, those that have been owing us we made them sign the stop orders to deduct from their monthly salaries. Now the next stop is all civil servants within and outside the province where we own properties, we are coming for them.
“It is anarchy, it can’t be justified because these people are paid a housing allowance by the government,” said the CEO.
The government owned company has criticised tenants who have been subletting its properties and collecting rent for their personal use.
“The subletting problem has been there, (for some time now) but when we act, we act in line with the law, we must engage people, continuously to inform them now that we have sufficient proof even to evict.
“Therefore, all tenants occupying the NWHC properties through sub-letting arrangements are requested to visit NWHC offices to regularize their tenancy. Paying rent to individuals instead of directly to the NWHC is illegal and may result in legal action,” explained Mogodiri.
The CEO encouraged defaulting tenants to settle outstanding balances to avoid penalties and further action.
Meanwhile, a weekly debt awareness campaign is planned to discuss payment arrangements and verifications of accounts to ensure that they are accurate.
