How to verify a landlord before you pay

Most rental fraud ends the same way: money moves before the tenant knows who they are paying. This guide is the order of checks to make before that happens, from the quickest to the most thorough. For the patterns scammers use, read our guide to rental scams in Kenya. For a full walk-through of a title search, read how to verify land ownership.

The one rule

Do not pay anything until you have been inside the unit, met the person letting it to you there, and signed a tenancy agreement that names the landlord. Every check below exists to make that meeting mean something.

1. Find out who you are dealing with

Ask plainly: are you the owner, the owner's agent, or the caretaker? Each answer has a different check.

• The owner. The name on their national ID should match the registered owner on a title search (step 3) and the name on the account you will pay.
• An agent. Anyone paid to let property for someone else must be registered with the Estate Agents Registration Board under the Estate Agents Act (Cap 533). Check them in the EARB members directory and look for the IN GOOD STANDING badge. Our guide on how to check an estate agent with EARB covers it step by step.
• A caretaker. A caretaker paid a salary by the landlord to show units is arguably outside the Act. But a caretaker cannot let a house without the landlord's authority. Ask for the landlord's name and number, and call the landlord yourself before you go any further.

2. Ask for the authority in writing

No law we have found requires a residential letting agent to show you a written letter of authority. In practice, a real agent or property manager has one: a management agreement or a letter from the owner. Ask to see it. Then match three names: the owner on the letter should be the owner on the title search, the agent on the letter should be the person in front of you, and that person should be in the EARB directory.

The tenancy agreement you sign should name the landlord, not only the agent or the agency.

3. Search the title

Under the Land Registration Act, anyone can get an official search of a title. It shows the registered owner, the type of title, and anything registered against it, such as a bank charge, a caution, a restriction or a lease.

• The fee is KES 1,000. It has been since April 2024. Older guides that say KES 500, or that the online search is free, are out of date. Paying through eCitizen adds KES 50.
• Online, for some registries. The search can be done on Ardhisasa for titles in the Nairobi, Murang'a, Mombasa Island and Isiolo registries, according to the Ministry of Lands in mid-2026. Other counties are still being moved across.
• In person, for the rest. Elsewhere, the search is made at the county land registry on form LRA 84, for the same fee. Confirm the right channel with the registry before you go.
• Allow a few days. The regulations allow up to five days for a search certificate to be issued.

You will need the landlord's help. A search needs the title or parcel number. On Ardhisasa, the Ministry has said the registered owner must approve a search request through the system. So in practice you cannot search quietly. A real landlord can give you the title number in a minute. One who will not, or who stalls, is telling you something.

Is it worth it for every rental? For a bedsitter at KES 12,000 a month, a KES 1,050 search and a few days' wait may feel heavy. For a higher rent, a long lease, a large deposit, or any doubt at all about who owns the place, it is the strongest check there is.

4. Flats are different

A search of the land under an apartment block shows the owner of the whole plot, often the developer. It does not tell you who owns flat 4B.

Under the Sectional Properties Act 2020, once a block is registered under a sectional plan, each unit gets its own register and its own title. If the block is sectionalised, search the unit's title, not the plot's.

The same Act gives you a second check. A unit owner must give the building's management corporation written notice before renting out the unit, and give the tenant's name within 20 days of letting it. So the building's management office should know who owns the unit and whether it is up for rent. Not every office will answer a stranger, but asking costs nothing.

5. Check the place itself

• View the inside of the unit, in daylight, with the person letting it to you. Seeing the gate or the outside is not a viewing.
• Ask a neighbour or the guard who owns the place and whether it is empty. In October 2025, Citizen Digital reported tenants in Kilimani and nearby estates who paid a deposit, sometimes with a receipt, and then found someone already living in the house.
• A land rates receipt or a water bill in the owner's name supports what you have been told. It does not prove ownership on its own.
• If the listing's photos appear elsewhere under a different price or a different contact, stop.

6. Pay so you can prove it

• Pay after you have signed, into an account in the landlord's or the agency's name: a bank account or a company paybill.
• On M-Pesa, read the recipient name on the confirmation screen before you approve. If it is not the landlord or the agency, cancel.
• Do not count on a reversal. Safaricom asks the recipient for consent before reversing a payment, so someone who meant to take your money can simply refuse.
• Get a receipt for the deposit and for every payment after it. The agreement should say what the deposit can be kept for.
• If you already rent and you get a message saying your landlord has changed bank details, call your landlord on the number you already have before you pay. In 2023, Kenyans.co.ke reported a Nairobi tenant who lost KES 16,000 to exactly that message.

What the law does and does not give you

Most residential tenancies in Kenya are governed by the agreement you sign. The Rent Restriction Act covers only homes with a rent of KES 2,500 a month or less, and the Landlord and Tenant (Shops, Hotels and Catering Establishments) Act covers business premises, not homes. A Landlord and Tenant Bill that would have covered residential lettings lapsed with the last Parliament. For almost every tenant, the written agreement and the receipts are the protection.

If you have already paid someone who was not the landlord

1. Call your bank or Safaricom at once with the transaction reference.
2. Report it at a police station, or to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on its toll-free FICHUA line, 0800 722 203. Obtaining money by false pretences is an offence under the Penal Code.
3. If an agent was involved, complain to EARB through its online complaints form, or on +254 741 088 144.
4. Report the listing to the site it appeared on, so it stops reaching the next person.

What SpaceYako checks, and what it does not

On SpaceYako, an admin checks an agent's identity document before the ID-checked badge appears. Every listing an agent submits waits for a person on our team before it goes live, and its photos are compared with every photo already on the site. Listings come down after 60 days unless the agent renews them. We do not check who owns the property, because title records are not open to us in a way that would let us confirm it, and nobody from SpaceYako has visited it. We never hold your deposit. The checks in this guide are still yours to make. Our trust page sets out the full list.

The checklist

• I know whether I am dealing with the owner, an agent or a caretaker.
• If it is an agent, they are IN GOOD STANDING in the EARB directory.
• I have seen written authority from the owner, and the names match.
• For a higher rent or a long lease, I have a title search in the landlord's name.
• For a flat, I have checked the unit's title or asked the management office.
• I have been inside the unit with the person letting it.
• The agreement names the landlord, the rent, the deposit and what the deposit covers.
• I am paying an account in the landlord's or agency's name, and I will get a receipt.