How to Avoid Rental Scams in Nairobi: 12 Red Flags and How to Protect Yourself

1. Fake listings. Photographs lifted from a real listing or a foreign website, priced 30% below the area range to generate volume. Defence: check the price against the neighbourhood range before you enquire. If a two-bedroom in Kileleshwa is advertised well under the local band, it is not a bargain.

2. Bait-and-switch. The advertised unit is 'just taken' and you are shown something worse at the same price. Defence: insist on seeing the exact unit in the advert, and walk if it does not exist.

3. Too-good-to-be-true pricing. A furnished three-bedroom in Runda at Kasarani money. Defence: the market does not have secret discounts. Price is the signal.

4. Phantom landlords. Someone who does not own the property collects a deposit and disappears. Defence: title deed or allotment letter, cross-checked against national ID.

5. Fake agents. An unregistered 'agent' takes a commission for an introduction to a property they have no mandate over. Defence: ask who they act for, and ask the owner to confirm it.

6. Sublet fraud. A current tenant sublets a unit they have no right to sublet, and you are evicted by the actual owner. Defence: ask for the head lease and confirm subletting is permitted.

7. Forged ownership documents. Rarer, but it happens on higher-value deals. Defence: for a long lease on an expensive property, a search at the lands registry is inexpensive relative to the deposit at risk.

8. Deposit theft. A deposit taken to 'hold' a unit that is then let to someone else. Defence: never pay to hold. Pay on signature, against a lease.

9. Viewing fees. A charge to see the property. Defence: nobody legitimate charges a tenant to view. Walk immediately.

10. Cash-only demands with no receipt. Defence: pay by M-Pesa or bank transfer to an account in the owner's name and keep every confirmation.

11. Pressure tactics. 'Three other people are viewing this evening.' Defence: real landlords accept a 24-hour verification pause. Anyone who does not is telling you something.

12. WhatsApp-only landlords. No physical meeting, no video, no documents, only messages. Defence: if you cannot see the person and the property live, do not send money.

None of this requires expertise. It requires a sequence you do not break:

• Verify ownership on paper and cross-check it against ID before any money moves.
• View in person, or on a live video call where you direct what the camera looks at.
• Pay the owner directly, on signature, never to hold, never in cash without a receipt.
• Keep the lease, the signed inventory, move-in photographs and every payment receipt.

Every listing we publish passes a 7-point check covering landlord identity, proof of ownership or a sublet-permitting head lease, a physical inspection, amenity confirmation, contactability, price sanity against the area range, and re-verification on a 90-day cycle. We record what the landlord states and what our checker observed, and we flag gaps rather than papering over them.

We are a matching service, not an estate agent. We never hold your deposit, never sign a lease on your behalf and never charge tenants a fee. You always pay the landlord directly.