$3.3m rental arrears owed to Housing Authority

The Housing Authority of Fiji is owed $3.3million in rental arrears by its customers, chief executive officer Ritesh Singh has revealed.

Mr Singh said they were mindful that Fiji had just come out of the COVID-19 period where a lot of their customers required assistance in various forms.

He said they were constantly working with their customers to make arrangements for payments.

“We are seeing good responses coming through in the payments,” Mr Singh said.

“This money is not lost, it will be recovered at any point in time because whenever there is a deal done in that particular lease, they come to us for a consent,” he said.

“For them to get the consent, they need to clear all their arrears. We are secured in terms of our lending plan. We will have to work with these customers to make arrangements for repayments.”

He said there were no penalties were charged to their customers.

“The interest is definitely charged on it, but our land rental is very low. It can range between $5 to $150 depending on the size of the block.”

However, Mr Singh said the Housing Authority continued to develop residential lots around Fiji that would be available soon on the market.

He said this was to meet the rising demand in affordable housing needs.

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