Landlords in Kenya now shunning property agents

NAIROBI-- The newly completed five-storey building in Umoja, on the east of Kenya's capital Nairobi, dwarfs the rest in the neighbourhood. It is three-quarter full with tenants, and a notice on the metal gate asks anyone interested in living there to contact a certain number. At the end of the notice, however, there is an interesting assurance written in bold to potential tenants. It reads, "Talk to the landlord, no agents please."

"If you call the phone number, you will talk to the landlord himself, we do not deal with agents here," said a caretaker identified as Mwangi, who added that two-bedroom houses were going for 202 U.S. dollars and the three-bedroom ones at 270 dollars. Mwangi's employer is among a growing number of landlords in Nairobi, who are shunning property agents in a bid to avoid bureaucracy and maximize earnings from their properties.