Property owners challenged to consider events, wedding activities

NAIROBI, KENYA: Wedding experts are now calling on property owners and agents to consider turning the assets into wedding venues to attract more investment since the property business is plummeting.

According to Dr.Catherine Matsisa, a wedding expert, uncommercialised land and unoccupied luxury properties would earn between Sh100, 000 to Sh300,000 a day when converted into wedding venues.

“The venue is the most prominent element of the wedding day as it sets the
tone for the wedding. It is also the largest expense generally comprising
25 per cent of the average wedding budget, (just for rental alone). This is good news for wedding venue owners and managers to earn even more by having the properties turned into wedding venues.”

Speaking during the WIN Africa Mini-Summit at Two-Rivers Conferencing facility, Dr.Matsisa said luxury properties and uncommercialised land would tap into the 28000 weddings yearly as a median wedding will spend at least Sh3million.

“When you own property that gets rented for occasions like weddings, your real
estate investment can pay out some serious dividends over time. Currently, in Nairobi alone, the median wedding budget now stands at Sh3million in the middle range market while there are weddings that are going for as high as Sh200 million. The last study done by Samantha’s bridal found out that are 28000 weddings per year. 

At the same time, Sansi Dietz-D'Souza, Property Consultant, Pam Golding said the opportunity to turn luxury properties to wedding venues would earn them the same amount as rental income in a day rather the 30-day period:

“If you are a property owner and you make a rental income of Sh300, 000 per month and now you don’t have clients to rent, and a wedding opportunity surfaces for the same amount which you are going to earn for a day, which is a lucrative deal. Wedding venues, therefore, pose a good opportunity for the property market that has been on the decline.”

Meanwhile, there is a need for venue owners to understand the new by-laws by the city council as well as the new laws by Tourism Regulatory Authority that help control events planners on venues. Wedding and event planners have been advised to be vigilant in understanding the legal and regulatory requirements that they should comply with.

"The regulations should be observed by event suppliers, venue owners and event managers on the production and execution of events if they want to commercialize the venues to their advantage. Venue Owners also need to keep abreast with the zoning requirements for conversion of residential properties to commercial use; as well as the regulations on waste management and noise pollution," said Kezy Mukiri, Partner at Mukiri Global Advocates.