Viewing Checklist for Nairobi Apartments and Homes

Most property viewings in Nairobi last between twenty minutes and an hour. The agent or developer representative talks you through the unit, points out the finishes and the view, and answers the questions you think to ask. Buyers who rely entirely on this process end up making decisions based on how the unit felt rather than what it actually is. The checklist below is for buyers who want to leave a viewing with facts rather than impressions.

This applies to apartments and houses. Some items are specific to one type and labelled accordingly. The rest apply to both. Bring this list to every site visit. It takes no more than thirty minutes to work through systematically and it will surface the issues that most buyers only discover after they have paid a reservation fee.

Before You Arrive: Prepare These Questions

The questions worth asking before you step inside the unit are building-level questions, and they are best asked of the agent or developer representative while you still have their attention before the viewing begins. Once you are inside a well-finished apartment with a view of the Ngong Hills, the conversation naturally gravitates toward the unit and away from the infrastructure.

Ask: what is the current occupancy rate of the building? Who is the management company and how long have they managed this building? Is the backup generator whole-building coverage or common areas only? When was the occupation certificate issued and can you see it? Are there any current service charge arrears among owners in the building? Is the parking bay for this unit titled to the unit or licensed from management?

Write down the answers as they are given. Agents who have accurate answers will give them quickly. Those who are uncertain, or who are working from the developer's marketing material rather than from operational knowledge of the building, will take longer and sometimes contradict themselves. The quality of the answers to these questions tells you something about how the building is actually run.

Water Supply: The Most Important Infrastructure Question in Nairobi

Water supply is the single most consequential infrastructure factor in Nairobi apartment and house ownership, and it is the one most buyers forget to assess at viewing. Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company supply is intermittent across large parts of the city. Buildings that rely entirely on mains supply experience regular shortfalls. The buildings that function reliably are those with adequate storage capacity and a dependable borehole or tanker supply arrangement to supplement mains.

At every viewing, ask: what is the building's water storage capacity? Is there a borehole on site and is it currently operational? How is water supply managed during mains outages? For houses, also check the size of the storage tanks and whether the borehole pump is in working order.

Then turn on a tap. Run it for thirty seconds. Check the pressure. In buildings with undersized pumping systems, pressure on upper floors is noticeably weaker than on lower floors. A shower that runs at a trickle on the eighth floor is a daily inconvenience that no amount of good finishing compensates for.

Power and Generator Coverage

Kenya Power supply interruptions are a feature of Nairobi life rather than an exception. A building with whole-building generator coverage that kicks in automatically within seconds of a power cut is meaningfully different from a building where the generator covers only common areas, or one where the generator is manually started and takes ten minutes to come online.

At the viewing, ask specifically what the generator covers: lifts, common areas only, or individual units. Ask how quickly it activates. If it is a manually operated system, ask who is responsible for operating it and whether that person is always on site. Then, if possible, ask to see the generator room. A generator that is maintained, fuelled, and serviced on a documented schedule looks different from one that has been sitting idle. The generator log, if the building maintains one, tells you more about management quality than almost anything else.

For houses, establish whether there is a house generator or inverter system and what it covers. A house in Karen or Runda without backup power, where the nearest shopping centre is a fifteen-minute drive, is a different ownership experience from one with a properly sized standby system.

Security: Layers, Not Just a Guard at the Gate

Security in Nairobi residential buildings operates in layers and the quality of each layer varies widely between properties. The gate with a guard is the most visible layer but often not the most effective. What matters more is access control at the building entrance, CCTV coverage of common areas and parking, the quality of the perimeter boundary, and the lighting of pedestrian routes between parking and the building entrance at night.

Walk the route from the parking bay to the apartment door. Do this at the time of day when you would normally arrive home. If your viewing is at noon and you plan to commute home at 8pm, the lighting and visibility along that route at night is relevant information you will not collect from a midday visit. Ask the agent what the security staffing arrangement is: how many guards, what shifts, whether the building uses a professional security company or individual guards hired directly by management.

For houses, assess the perimeter wall height and condition, the gate access control, and whether there is an electric fence or alarm system in place. Ask when the alarm was last tested and serviced.

Inside the Unit: What to Check Physically

Walk every room and check these specific things. In the kitchen: turn on the taps, test the water pressure, open every cabinet and drawer to confirm they operate correctly, check that the kitchen exhaust fan works. In the bathrooms: flush every toilet, run the shower, check for damp or staining around the base of the shower enclosure and at the ceiling corners, which is typically where waterproofing failures first appear. Check that the extractor fan operates.

In every room: open every window and check that it opens and closes fully without sticking or rattling. Check the condition of the window seals, particularly in older buildings where failing seals allow water ingress during Nairobi's heavy rains. Look at ceiling corners for brown staining, which indicates historical water penetration from above or from the roof. In a top-floor apartment this is especially important.

Test every light switch. Check that plug sockets are properly secured to the wall. In bare-shell units, check the position and number of electrical points against what you plan to need for kitchen appliances and bedroom furniture.

For houses: check the roof condition from outside where you can see it, looking for missing or cracked tiles, sagging sections, or moss growth that indicates moisture retention. Check external walls for cracking, particularly around window frames and at building corners, which may indicate structural movement. Walk the garden perimeter and check the drainage channels around the house for blockage or standing water.

Lifts: The Infrastructure Detail That Defines Upper-Floor Living

If the unit you are viewing is above the fourth floor, the reliability of the building's lifts is not a minor detail. It is a material factor in the ownership experience. Buildings in Kilimani and Westlands with six or more floors where lift maintenance is deferred or where the lift is frequently out of service create daily inconvenience for residents and actively deter tenants, particularly those with children, older family members, or regular deliveries.

At the viewing, use the lift rather than the stairs. Note whether it operates smoothly, whether the doors open and close without hesitation, and whether the interior is maintained. Ask the agent when the lift was last serviced and whether there have been any extended outages in the past year. A building with a documented lift maintenance contract and a service history is in a different category from one where maintenance is reactive rather than scheduled.

The Neighbourhood Check That Most Buyers Skip

A viewing covers the unit and the building. It rarely covers the immediate neighbourhood in the way that matters for daily life. Before or after the viewing, walk a 200-metre radius from the building entrance. Check the condition of the access road, including whether it floods or becomes impassable during heavy rain, which is a real issue in several streets across Kilimani and Kileleshwa. Locate the nearest supermarket, pharmacy, and fuel station. Note the traffic pattern on the access route at the time you are there and consider how it differs during peak hours.

For buyers with school-age children, the route to and from school is a practical daily reality that should be assessed before commitment rather than assumed to be manageable. Several otherwise good family apartment buildings in Nairobi are on access routes that become gridlocked between 7am and 8.30am in a way that significantly affects morning routines.

What to Record Before You Leave

Before you leave the viewing, photograph: the unit from each corner of every main room, the view from each window, the kitchen and bathroom fittings and their condition, the building's common areas including the lobby and lift interior, the parking bay allocated to the unit, the generator room if you were given access, and the external building facade. These photographs serve two purposes. They help you compare units accurately after several viewings when memory starts to conflate properties. And they create a baseline record if the condition of the unit changes between viewing and handover.

Write down the name of the agent or developer representative you viewed with, the date and time, and the answers to the infrastructure questions from the beginning of this checklist. A viewing note that captures facts rather than impressions is the foundation of a confident decision.

For buyers who are ready to move from viewing to reservation, the article on what to check before you reserve an apartment in Nairobi covers the due diligence steps that follow a successful viewing. For the full purchase process including title checks, sale agreement review, and transfer, the buying property in Kenya guide covers each stage in sequence.

For current properties available across Nairobi's main residential areas, the property for sale listings cover apartments and homes at different price points. If you want guidance on a specific property or building before booking a visit, the team at Nairobi Real Estate is available through the contact page.