THE Public Rental Board (PRB) says it has no legal authority to investigate whether its tenants are genuinely low-income earners, even if there are indications they may own businesses.
In an interview with The Fiji Times yesterday, board CEO Timoci Naleba revealed that while the board does request salary declarations during applications, it is currently not allowed to conduct a formal means test to verify other sources of income.
“Right now, we cannot conduct a means test, which means we cannot tell the tenant to declare all other sources of income,” Mr Naleba said.
“We rely on the documents they submit — payslips, FNPF statement, contract, and FIRCA confirmation on whether they’re taxpayers or not.
“But if information comes to us suggesting a tenant owns a business or earns more, we do not have the legal mandate to investigate further.”
Mr Naleba said they’re in discussions with the PRB board and are seeking legal advice on whether such checks could be introduced in future.
His comments come in response to queries from The Fiji Times regarding claims that a foreign businessman was occupying two flats at the PRB’s Raiwai flats.
Residents say the tenant has been living there for more than six years and owns a business in Vatuwaqa.
In response, Mr Naleba said they evicted the businessman last year.
“The owner of the company was vacated last year, freeing up one of the flats they were renting. The current tenant is an employee.
“We also removed another tenant last year who we found was a taxidriver and had three taxis altogether.”
Mr Naleba said the intention was not to punish tenants who were improving their lives, as some are doing small businesses, “but there needs to be fairness”.
In response to questions from The Fiji Times, Housing and Local Government Minister Maciu Nalumisa said the board should be given the mandate to investigate the tenants’ sources of income.
“Yes, they should,” he said.
“They should be able to investigate household income.”