‘Drug den’ to be demolished
Tenants of H&A Court in Walvis Bay’s Narraville residential area say unoccupied rooms on the ground floor of the block of flats have become a squat for drug users.
A fire recently destroyed four flats at the building belonging to Pelican Housing Investments, a close corporation owned by lawyer Bradley Basson, who is also the president of the Namibian Rugby Union.
Nobody was injured in the fire. The Walvis Bay fire department said it was suspected that children playing with matches set a mattress alight and that caused the fire.
Basson confirmed that he had bought the building block, which consisted of 10 flats and accommodated about 50 people, from Henrietta van Reenen in 2015. He also bought 20 flats on an adjacent property from Van Reenen.
According to some of the tenants Basson provided them with lease agreements but they refused to sign them because of a number of issues. The residents say they decided to stop paying rent in December 2015 and demanded that the owner address them personally.
“The building is in a deplorable condition. The place should be renovated and we want assurance that we won’t be evicted. We are uncertain about our future as tenants.
“Toilets are broken and the water supply was cut last year. We buy water from the owners of neighbouring properties. The flats are equipped with prepaid electricity meters and we pay approximately N$500 for electricity per month and the rent amounts to N$3 200 per month.”
Basson said he planned to demolish the building, apply for rezoning to accommodate more units and build new flats.
“Repeated attempts by my office to convince the tenants to pay rent failed. Only three of the ten tenants are paying rent. The rest refused to sign contracts and are defaulting ever since, with some of them in arrears for over a year.
“I want to improve the development, uplift the community and provide affordable housing due to the crisis Namibia is experiencing. Summonses will be issued in due time and those who live there will eventually be evicted,” he said.
OTIS FINCK
A fire recently destroyed four flats at the building belonging to Pelican Housing Investments, a close corporation owned by lawyer Bradley Basson, who is also the president of the Namibian Rugby Union.
Nobody was injured in the fire. The Walvis Bay fire department said it was suspected that children playing with matches set a mattress alight and that caused the fire.
Basson confirmed that he had bought the building block, which consisted of 10 flats and accommodated about 50 people, from Henrietta van Reenen in 2015. He also bought 20 flats on an adjacent property from Van Reenen.
According to some of the tenants Basson provided them with lease agreements but they refused to sign them because of a number of issues. The residents say they decided to stop paying rent in December 2015 and demanded that the owner address them personally.
“The building is in a deplorable condition. The place should be renovated and we want assurance that we won’t be evicted. We are uncertain about our future as tenants.
“Toilets are broken and the water supply was cut last year. We buy water from the owners of neighbouring properties. The flats are equipped with prepaid electricity meters and we pay approximately N$500 for electricity per month and the rent amounts to N$3 200 per month.”
Basson said he planned to demolish the building, apply for rezoning to accommodate more units and build new flats.
“Repeated attempts by my office to convince the tenants to pay rent failed. Only three of the ten tenants are paying rent. The rest refused to sign contracts and are defaulting ever since, with some of them in arrears for over a year.
“I want to improve the development, uplift the community and provide affordable housing due to the crisis Namibia is experiencing. Summonses will be issued in due time and those who live there will eventually be evicted,” he said.
OTIS FINCK
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