Accommodation in Kenya: scams you should look out for

Hi
Bhavna,

i am In kenya almost last 3 years , i am more than happy to share my experience there ,
i live in Nairobi so i can tell you about Nairobi city . let's take your questions one by one .

nairobi is a beautiful city for living . very friendly people % wise .
Looking for renting house there is some agent's

Ojijo road and any gated security society you can consider  as safe .
and rent for 2BHK house or apartment you can get in between 60,000KSA to 1,00,000KSA
but after evening i suggest not to walk alone on road . take a cab there is UBER , Taxify any oher cab service available , you can get lady uber driver as well .
and mostly they are very good in in english speaking and very gentle .

carjacking ,mobile snitching , and robbery is common incident around the city .
but good news is it's reducing day by day .
thank god those thing never happened to me .

you can get many many Indian those are born and brought up  there as well as business and service person with their family's like me .

cost of living is lesser than mombasa . or any other country .
but medical cost is very high , you have to consider that .

i hope i give  some light in Kenya life
if there is anything you need to know you free to ask me .

Thank you
Raj Das

Hi Raj Das,

Thank you for this informative post about life in Kenya. If you have more advises about the initial topic please do not hesitate to share them here.

Best,
Christine
Expat.com team

When looking for a place to rent (House or Apartment), I would suggest you visit places you would like to live, ask the security if there is a house, and in most cases if they assess you as likable/ look like their tenants they may direct you to the caretaker, or even a landlord. Avoid advertisements, most are brokers who insist on you paying a deposit before they show you a house. Some will rush you to commit a deposit. Don't be in a hurry. Riara road behind Junction Mall is a great place to start.

Kiarie

If you have a rent budget of 1500-4000 USD per month and above, you should consider the following neighborhoods which are popular among expats and are way more safer than cheaper neighborhoods:

- Westlands
- Spring Valley
- Kyuna
- Kitisuru
- Runda
- Gigiri
- Thigiri
- Muthaiga
- Kileleshwa
- Kilimani
- Lavington etc...

There are a good number of reliable real estate agencies which can help you look for an ideal place. You just need to google a bit and you'll be able to tell apart the good ones from the quality of their listings on their website.

For rental, scams may be that the 'agent' is not acting legally for anyone and simply aims to get the 1 month deposit out of you, before disappearing.  Also make sure that you aren't dealing with a broker, who will demand a fee from you and possibly threaten you if you don't pay.  Avoid OLX, Facebook Marketplace and so on in your property search.

Always go to a property real estate agent such as Villa Care, Hass Consult, Knight Frank, Pam Golding, Ryden, to name a few.  Decide which areas you would like to live in and set aside a day or two to view properties.  Always view properties in person.

For buying, probably the most common scam involved fake titles, with someone posing as the seller, or sellers representative.  As with any con, the set up is very convincing.  The aim is to get the initial 20% deposit out of the prospective buyer, before the 'seller' vanishes.  A defence against this would be to obtain a copy of the title and carry out a search against it, with land registry.  If it is a broker that you are dealing with, insist on being put in contact with the seller.

Searches are also vital to ensure that the property you are buying is not on government reserve land, such as a road, or river reserve.  It will also help to safeguard against buying a title that was 'stolen' years ago - even if your transaction is seemingly legal, the fact that the land/property was stolen in the first place, makes all transactions from that point illegal and invalid.

Brokers; there could be a chain of them involved in the sale of a property.  They are more of a concern for the seller.  They often advertise online.  They will be reluctant to give you (as the buyer) the sellers details and if this is the case, be prepared to walk away.  The better brokers would rather give you the details you have asked for, than see their commission vanish before their eyes. 

The deposit:  Generally paid when the sales agreement is signed.  Ensure that the money is safeguarded, by doing something like opening a joint account with both parties to sign.  Don't give to a lawyer, as is the practice in some countries - it may disappear.

Lawyers; get a lawyer with a good reputation - they will charge commission of approx 1 - 2% of the sale price, according to Law Society regulations.

It should be noted that foreigners cannot buy freehold titles, or land listed as 'agricultural'.  A lawyer who tells you that you can is not being honest.