News / Local
Man 'refuses' to pay rent for whole year
03 Apr 2022 at 08:28hrs | Views
A TENANT in Northend, Bulawayo is allegedly refusing to vacate the house and has reportedly gone for a year and half without paying rentals.
The tenant, Mr Brian Chitsungo, was taken to court by relatives of the owner of the house after they had issued him with an eviction notice, which the family says he did not honour.
The matter is still pending.
According to Mr Zwelithini Malinga, who has the power of attorney over the property: "Mr Chitsungo did not have a healthy relationship with Mrs Susan Magaramombe (mother to the owner of the house).
"He would tell her not to put pressure on him to pay rent and at times exchange harsh words with her."
He said that the tenant wanted to do things his own way at the house.
"There was a time when the roof was leaking, Mr Chitsungo contacted us, we instructed someone to go over and fix it, however, the person might have delayed.
"This resulted in the tenant getting it fixed at his own expense and sending us a receipt for the costs stating that we should pay him as soon as possible without fail," added Mr Malinga.
He noted that from November 2020 up to end of March, Mr Chitsungo has never paid rent and efforts to remove him from the house have been in vain.
"Mr Chitsungo said we can take him to any court in Bulawayo, he is not scared.
He is not cooperating, we have tried to have civil dialogue with him but it has been fruitless, and he has also put other tenants inside the house as well," he added.
Commenting on the allegations of refusing to vacate the house, Mr Chitsungo denied them and said: "I have stayed in that house for 10 years and the problem started when my property was damaged by the rains last year.
They refused to pay me back and I do not owe them anything."
He said he was not given any notice and only heard about it when they wanted to do an arbitrary eviction on him and have been giving excuses while not producing proof.
The tenant, Mr Brian Chitsungo, was taken to court by relatives of the owner of the house after they had issued him with an eviction notice, which the family says he did not honour.
The matter is still pending.
According to Mr Zwelithini Malinga, who has the power of attorney over the property: "Mr Chitsungo did not have a healthy relationship with Mrs Susan Magaramombe (mother to the owner of the house).
"He would tell her not to put pressure on him to pay rent and at times exchange harsh words with her."
He said that the tenant wanted to do things his own way at the house.
"There was a time when the roof was leaking, Mr Chitsungo contacted us, we instructed someone to go over and fix it, however, the person might have delayed.
"This resulted in the tenant getting it fixed at his own expense and sending us a receipt for the costs stating that we should pay him as soon as possible without fail," added Mr Malinga.
He noted that from November 2020 up to end of March, Mr Chitsungo has never paid rent and efforts to remove him from the house have been in vain.
"Mr Chitsungo said we can take him to any court in Bulawayo, he is not scared.
He is not cooperating, we have tried to have civil dialogue with him but it has been fruitless, and he has also put other tenants inside the house as well," he added.
Commenting on the allegations of refusing to vacate the house, Mr Chitsungo denied them and said: "I have stayed in that house for 10 years and the problem started when my property was damaged by the rains last year.
They refused to pay me back and I do not owe them anything."
He said he was not given any notice and only heard about it when they wanted to do an arbitrary eviction on him and have been giving excuses while not producing proof.
Source - The Sunday News
