Vacancy is Costing You More Than You Think — Here's How to Fix It
Every vacant unit is KES 5,000-50,000 walking out the door each month. Here's a practical guide to reducing vacancy on your Kenya rental properties.
Teknant Team
Property Management
The Hidden Cost of Vacancy
Most landlords focus on tenants who are late with rent. The bigger revenue leak is often the vacant units sitting in front of them.
A one-bedroom in Nairobi at KES 15,000/month that sits empty for 6 weeks between tenants costs KES 22,500 in lost rent. Do that twice a year across 3 units and you've lost KES 135,000 — more than most landlords lose to late payments in the same period.
Yet most landlords treat vacancy as inevitable. It's not.
Why Units Stay Vacant Too Long
Slow turnaround — You wait until the tenant leaves to start looking for a replacement, then take a week to paint and clean. By then 3-4 weeks have passed. Fix: start marketing the moment you receive notice.
No online presence — In 2025, tenants find properties online first. If your unit isn't listed digitally with photos and clear pricing, you're invisible to most of the market.
Overpriced — Many landlords set rent based on what they want rather than market rates. A unit rented quickly at KES 12,000 beats a unit sitting empty waiting for KES 15,000.
Difficult viewings — A tenant messages to view. You say Saturday. They find something else by Thursday. Make viewings easy — respond to enquiries within hours, not days.
Not tracking vacancy data — If you don't know your vacancy rate, you can't improve it.
The Vacancy Reduction Playbook
30 days before a tenant leaves: Confirm move-out date, book painter and cleaner, post your listing on Teknant immediately.
When the tenant leaves: Exit inspection same day, painters in the next day, unit ready for viewing within 5-7 days.
During the search: Respond to every enquiry within 2 hours, offer flexible viewing times including evenings and weekends.
When you have a good applicant: Screen them, move quickly, don't delay signing.
What Teknant Shows You
The Teknant dashboard shows vacancy status per unit in real-time, days vacant for each empty unit, occupancy rate portfolio-wide, and upcoming lease end dates so you're never caught off-guard.
When you can see the data, you can manage it. When you manage it, vacancy drops.
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