Life as a landlord

Here is what I wish I knew before I became a landlord. Landlord Testimonial watch here

1. Tenants don't always pay rent!

It came as a shock after building the property that tenants don't always pay rent, I invested it started of with late payments, then partial payments, now it's a recurring problem

2. You never forget your first tenant.

''My first tenant was the son of the owner of the house that I had procured from Kayole,'' he reminiscied. Though he did not stay for long, he has never forgotten him.

3. The first few months you will be onsite 

''During the first few months I used to go to the property often whenever I'm around,'' He says. He used to interact with the tenants and they would often want to give him cash, sometimes he would accept and notify the brother who was incharge, sometimes he would forget to notifty him bringing the confusion of not knowing who has paid and who hasn't and sometimes to prevent confusion he would opt not to. ''They would do it to avoid the mpesa transaction costs,'' he notes. 

4. Family friction.

'Sometimes my brother would involve my siblings and it would end up looking like a family property.'' This blurred structured eneded up creating so much friction. Now the property that was mine, begun feeling like my dad's.

5. The Court cases

''There was a lot of friction between my family and the tenants, most of the time,'' he notes. He recalls, of a tense incident that nearly escalated to a court case because of this. He had to intervene, because they were now carrying machetes, as they demand for rent. This was completely wrong, he had to step in and de-escalate the situation.