If you've just bought a rental property, inherited one, or converted a family home into units, "property management" can sound like a formal industry you now have to hire your way into. In practice, it's just a name for a set of ongoing tasks — and you can handle them yourself, hire someone to handle them, or split the difference with the right tools. This is a plain-language starting point for figuring out which.
Whether you do it yourself or pay someone else to, the same core tasks need doing:
None of this requires a company between you and your property — it requires these tasks to actually get done consistently.
| Self-managing with the right tools | More control and no ongoing management fee, but it's your time — realistic mainly with software handling the repetitive parts |
| Hiring a property management company | Frees up your time, typically for a percentage of rent collected, but you're trusting someone else's process and reporting |
If you're leaning toward hiring a company, see our guide to property management companies in Nairobi — what they actually do and the questions worth asking before you sign anything. If you're leaning toward doing it yourself, the rest of this article (and our full software guide) is for you.
Property management companies in Kenya typically charge a percentage of the rent they collect on your behalf, on top of any separate fees for tasks like finding a new tenant. Exact rates vary by company and property type, so it's worth getting this in writing before signing anything.
Self-managing with software is a much smaller, fixed cost by comparison — typically a monthly subscription based on how many units you manage, rather than a cut of your rent. See our pricing page for how that works with Kodi specifically.
The reason self-managing has gotten more realistic even for landlords with several properties is software that handles the repetitive parts: M-Pesa rent collection and reconciliation, automated reminders, a digital visitor log, and guard patrol tracking if the property has security staff. That's the gap property management software is built to close — see the complete feature breakdown for what to look for.
If you're weighing cost against convenience, start with our guide to comparing property management software — most of the checklist applies whether you're self-managing fully or supporting a small in-house team.
No — plenty of landlords manage their own properties, especially with software handling rent collection, reminders, and record-keeping. A company makes more sense if you don't have the time, live far from the property, or are managing a large enough portfolio that it's a full-time job on its own.
A caretaker is typically on-site, handling day-to-day physical tasks like cleanliness, minor repairs, and sometimes visitor access. A property manager (whether that's you, a company, or software doing the administrative work) handles leasing, rent collection, financial reporting, and the overall operation. Many properties have both.
It depends entirely on the route you take. A management company charges a percentage of collected rent, which you should get in writing up front. Self-managing with software is a fixed monthly cost based on unit count — see pricing for a concrete example.
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