BHC reviews rentals to encourage purchase
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday July 23, 2018 13:04
“Unfortunately, that is the reality as people saw no reason to buy the houses while they are renting them at a lower price,” he told The Monitor. BHC has not increased rentals since 2004, a state which has had negative impact on its operations. To remedy the situation, government has joined forces with BHC to review the current rental prices.
Motswaiso is optimistic that the appetite to buy the corporation’s properties by the tenants might come back once the rent is increased.
“All is not lost as the scheme is still existing, there are investors who are seeking to grow their assets and are taking advantage of such schemes. BHC tenants must take advantage of this scheme as it might open financial wealth,” he said.
The scheme was re-launched in 2016 availing 6,000 BHC low cost houses across the country for tenants who do not qualify for bank mortgages. The scheme targets Batswana who are aged 65 years and below, renting BHC houses across the country.
Unlike BHC’s current sitting tenants’ campaign where purchasers buy the houses through bank loans, the TPS allows tenants installments to be deducted directly from their salaries.
The scheme that was introduced 30 years ago by the government to promote home ownership amongst tenants after it encountered administrative challenges and high arrears. In 2004 when it was suspended, the Ministry said that arrears amounted to P44 million which they managed to scale down to P1.5 million which was outstanding in 2016. Meanwhile, BHC has managed to build 5,469 houses out of 6,045 housing units under SHAA turnkey while 585 are at various stages of construction. The budget for the project from 2008/09 to 2017/18 financial year amounted to P544 million.
Implementation of the SHAA turnkey programme by the corporation is in accordance with Presidential Cabinet Directive CAB 20 (B)/ 2010 which established the Corporation as a single housing authority. The directive directed that the implementation of all public housing delivery projects be transferred to BHC.