Over non-payment of rents and the poor status of the 58 OAU villas at Hill Station, the Sierra Leone Housing Corporation (SALHOC), Board of Directors, including a representative of the National Privatisation Commission (NCP) over the weekend visited some of the estate to ascertain their status and discuss with some of the tenants.
The Chairman Board of Directors of (SALHOC) Gibril Koroma said “we are inspecting all SALHOC properties to ascertain their status and to also cross check tenants financial records to the corporation.”
He revealed that the corporation is indebted in billions by mostly Government officers, Members of Parliament and other tenants who are bent on occupying the villas without paying their rents.
“We are looking at various levels of SALHOC properties so that the Board can make the right decision about the use and management of all our properties in the interest of the people of Sierra Leone,” the Chairman said.
He also said that most of the defaulting tenants will be asked to vacate the villas to pave the way for interested individuals who are committed and determined to pay their rents and also maintain the facilities, while some of the unoccupied villas will be repossessed by the corporation.
Some of the villas the SALHOC Board inspected were in a bad shape, roofs leaking, and cracks on walls. Many of them had not been painted for years while some of the facilities are in a deplorable state.
There are few tenants that have paid in full to the corporation and others who have taken good care of the villas and its facilities.
The Board was also taken on a conducted tour of one of the rented villas by Aleece Cooper who had renovated it to modern standard.
According to the General Manager of SALHOC some tenants have stayed over 10 years at the villas and they have not paid a single cent.
Members of the Board and the representative from NCP commended tenants who are taking good care of the villas and urged other tenants who are not paying their rents to do so.
Sources at SALHOC have revealed that tenants mostly government officers owe the corporation billions of Leones which have not been recovered over the years.
The Board expressed determination to retrieve some of the monies and to also repossess some of the villas.
By Saidu Bah