Tycoon Hamis Kiggundu
City businessman, Hamis Kiggundu aka Ham, the Chief Executive Officer of Ham Enterprises (U) Ltd has written off all outstanding rental arrears in order to give tenants ability to regain stability in their businesses.
In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Ham Enterprises U Ltd said as a result of the COVID-19 situation, the company had earlier shared the loss by writing off two months in rental arrears.
“However, it has come to our attention that majority of your businesses have greatly been affected by COVID-19 due to closure of borders and reduced sales,” the company said in a statement, adding: “Management has taken an additional decision to reboot its rental system by writing off all your outstanding rental arrears to zero.”
The company noted that the waiver applies on all their business premises.
“Going forward starting this month of September 2020 onwards, rent should always be paid not later than the 5th day of every month,” the company said, adding: “So going forward, we don’t expect tolerance of accumulation of rental arrears for your premises as management is going to be very strict on rent collections.”
It should be noted that tenants have been advocating for waivers, but many landlords say this can only be possible if Government also supports them by giving them incentives including tax holidays.
Government Chief Whip, Ruth Nankabirwa recently told tenants to forget about not paying their rent arrears for the months the country was under lockdown.
She instead promised to ask government to come up with an affordable credit facility which can help the tenants to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nankabirwa informed Parliament that the President cannot stop landlords from demanding the rent arrears because many have bank loans but promised to take the matter to cabinet so that an affordable credit facility is availed.
