Building Code

INTRODUCTION

The Department is headed by the Chief Building Surveyor and has 291 officers based both at the headquarters and the 72 administrative Districts for ease of quality service delivery.

FUNCTIONS

(1) Registration, Classification, Maintenance and continued update of the Inventory of all Government houses.
Presently there are 42,000 residential units and 13,964 office buildings in the building register.

(2) Maintenance of existing Government houses including sites and grounds to acceptable habitable standards. 40 % of rent collections from Government houses is retained by the Department for maintenance while 60% is channeled to the Civil Servants Housing Scheme Fund.

( 3) Leasing of public office accommodation and housing for Constitutional office holders.

(4) Housing of Civil Servants and Disciplined Forces. This entails;

Receipt and processing of applications from public Servants interested in Government houses. Applications in Nairobi are submitted in an appropriate form obtained from the ministry responsible for housing and which should be returned at least one month before the quarters are required. Applications in other stations are submitted similarly to the respective Housing Allocation Committee.

Tenant placement. Houses are allocated to officers at their stations on point system. Other general considerations such as family size, proximity to office etc are also taken into account.

Dispute resolution amongst Government tenants.

General Welfare of Government tenants.

(5) Rent collection from Government tenants.

In order to create equity in Public Service housing, in July, 2001 under Harmonization of Terms and Conditions of Service the Government opted to divest from direct provision of housing to Civil Servants except those in essential services.
This was done by:- Paying all Public Servants market based house allowances and those Public Servants interested in occupation of Government houses were to be charged market rent rates for the quarter they occupy henceforth.

Consequently, this Department was charged with the responsibility of collecting rent from the occupants of Government quarters. Currently the department targets to collect Kshs 650,000,000 p.a.

(6) Offering consultancy services to public organizations on property management requirements as and when called upon.

(7) Sale and management of Civil Servants Housing Scheme Fund (CSHSF) houses.

Phase I of the Sale involved sale of non –strategic houses in Nairobi only. A Total of 1081 houses were sold at prices ranging from Ksh.640,000/= in Kibera High-rise to Ksh. 3,200,000/= in Kileleshwa. As at 31st August 2006, 118 purchases had completed paying the full purchase price.
Phase II of the sale is targeted at disposing off non – strategic houses in the districts.There are 1900 housing units to be sold in thirty four(34) Districts.The ministerial circular advertising the sale to civil servants is scheduled to be released in October 2006.
The department is also assisting in identification of plots for development. In Nairobi, eight (8) sites have been identified where 852 housing units are being developed for sale to civil servants.
The department is also charged with the responsibility of granting housing loan facilities to civil servants within the CSHSF.the lending limit is Ksh. 5,000,000/= at 5% per annum interest. This is scheduled to start in October 2006 with 36 number civil servants resident in Madaraka Estate in Nairobi.
Dispute resolution among tenant purchasers
General Estate welfare of Fund houses.

(8) Staff development. The department also coordinates training of its officers in relevant short and long courses.

| Housing Department
| Estates Department
| Rent Restriction Tribunal
| Central Administrative Services
| Civil Servants Housing Development Programme Department
| Kenya Slums Upgrading Programme Department