Nairobi residents continue to suffer the consequences of poor regulation in the real estate industry.
On several occasions, tenants have complained of rogue landlords often accused of unjustified rent increment, and forceful evictions, among others.
Despite the drafting of several legislations to regulate the relationship between tenants, landlords, and real estate agencies, things only appear to be deteriorating.
Earlier today, a distressed city dweller reached out to this blog's editor seeking to expose a fraudulent property agency that handles apartments in Lang'ata.
According to the victim, the company named "Derancy Agency" has been playing monkey games with his refundable deposit even after he promptly notified the main office one month prior to moving out, as outlined in the tenant-landlord agreement. "Vipi bro. I would to expose a company that is frustrating and doing fraud with clients' money. Derancy Agency Limited is a company based in Nairobi that deals with real estate management. You build your apartment then they manage it for you, of course at a fee. I happened to live in one of the apartments they handle in Langata. The problem is they acknowledged that they received my intention to relocate from their apartment on the 16th of last month, but they say they will refund my deposit in August in the 1st week. That is the normal stipulated time of 1 month. There is a lady called Rose from the agency who handles the phone calls and is very arrogant in her talk. Juzi I had to relocate, kazi iliisha prematurely. So there were uncertainties before I came to the decision of moving out. I was to write them a letter telling them that I would move out a month prior to the day I move out. I did not. Not enough, the caretaker had conflicting information with the agency on the amount retained to repaint a bedsitter and a one-bedroom. The caretaker told me for the bedsitter, Sh2,500 shillings would be retained whereas Rose said it is 5000 for both bedsitters and 1 bedroom. I read a lot of malice from them. If you can, expose them so that nobody else is duped," the source wrote to us on Friday, July 8.