Salt River tenants who rent council houses from the City of Cape Town will have to pay rent of upto R5,500, a dramatic increase from the R243 some tenants used to pay.
In August, the City sent a letter to Salt River tenants saying they are increasing rent to R5 500 per month.
The letter states that the City is reviewing all its property leases to establish its current market related potential in compliance with its regulations on asset and financial management, which stipulate that the City’s assets should be rented at market-related rents.
Reclaim the City which is currently representing the tenants said the city has over 9000 houses in it’s rental portfolio.
“We suspect that it has approached other tenants living in council houses and threatened to increase their rent,” said Deena Bosch of Reclaim the City.
“If you are one of these people, please approach Reclaim the City.
“The City needs to be challenged on the way it continuously fails to put people (who it claims to serve) before profit and white elite interests.”
The ward councillor of the area Paddy Chapple said he does not know anything about the rental increases and referred queries to Mayco member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management James Vos.
Vos said: “This requires a comprehensive and holistic look before I can simply comment.
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