Why your rentals are always vacant

Joseph Muwanguzi completed the construction of his rental units in 2018 in Kasawo, trading centre, in Mukono District. Almost one year down the road, out of the six units, only two have been occupied so far.

Every time, potential tenants inspect the remaining apartments, they promise to do a booking, something that never happens.

“I have failed to understand why I am not getting tenants. It is something that continuously perturbs me,” he says.

Muwanguzi is not alone. There are many landlords and ladies out there wondering why they are not getting tenants. So, why are rental units continuously remaining vacant?

The distance
Denis Kibuuka, the managing director of Kibuuka Property Brokers in Kyaliwajjala inn Wakiso District, says one of the crucial reasons why rental units may not get occupied is because of the far distance between them and the main road.

“Imagine a rental unit which is about 10 kilometres away from the main road. It’s very unlikely that someone may occupy it because of this distance and the hustle involved in getting to the main road, especially, when there is unreliable means of transport available within the vicinity,” Kibuuka says.

Besides distance, Kibuuka adds that other individuals consider aspects such as easy accessibility of service points such as trading centres, schools and hospitals.

Also, accessibility to piped water and electricity is important, In circumstances where these are not within reach, someone may be forced to look elsewhere to rent.

Undermining brokers
Meanwhile, Sadat Seviiri, the chief executive officer of Bamweyana Property Brokers Uganda, says some landlords and ladies undermine the significance of brokers who play a vital role of getting potential tenants.

“Some of these apartment owners take brokers for granted, a lot. They are arrogant and rude to them. Imagine helping someone get a tenant and in the end, they adamantly refuse to pay them,” Seviiri says.

“Do you think that the broker will work with such a person again?” Seviiri adds.

He says such brokers have a tendency of sharing their experiences with others in the same business and will caution them not to work with the apartment owner. And, sometimes without the help of the brokers, either the landlord or lady will find it difficult to get tenants.

High rent fees
Have you ever inspected a rental apartment, loved it, but, decided not to take it up because of the high rent charges?

It is an experience a number of individuals can probably relate to.
For example, in 2017, a broker took Peter Nyangoma to see residential units in Lubowa, a locality along the Kampala-Entebbe road.

“I, however, ended up not renting any of the units because of the rent. Some landlords were charging fees as high as Shs3m as monthly rent, an amount I don’t even earn as salary,” he says.
Besides the high rental fees, Nyangoma says some of the landlords’ payment arrangements complicated matters.

“Some of the landlords emphasised that the first payments should cover a certain period of time.
For example, if the rental fees of an apartment is Shs1m, and, the landlord demands payment for the first three months upfront, then, the interested occupant has to first pay Shs3m before moving into the unit,” Nyangoma says.

Stuck to old house trends
On the other hand, some landlords and ladies are simply failing to get tenants because their apartments have been constructed with old house designs.

“Times have changed. Individuals today are embracing new housing trends whereby they want to stay in apartments with particular facilities. For example, some will tell you that they want to stay in a rental that is already furnished. And, as a landlord, if you don’t have these facilities, you miss out on a potential client,” says Marvin Musoke, a broker based in Muyenga, a suburb in Kampala.

Janet Nakibugwe, a business woman, says whenever she is looking for a new rental apartment, she considers certain features in the bathroom.

“I never move into a house that neither has a bath tub or shower compartment. These facilities are more convenient than fetching water at a tap and later carrying it to the bathroom for a shower,” Nakibugwe says.

Overall, tenant’s different tastes and preferences are partly one of the reasons why rental units are continuously not getting occupied.

Not marketing enough
With every sector going digital, landlords and landladies not taking advantage of social media platforms to reach out to potential occupants are missing out.

“We are currently living in the digital era where most people are on different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sometimes, the best way to market residential apartments is by reaching out to individuals on these different platforms,” Jean Katumba, a social media influencer, says.

“Post pictures of your units, location, rent fees and leave behind a phone number,” Katumba adds.
You may get surprised at the end of the day how many people will reach out with interest in your apartments.

Property manager issue
Usually, after rental units have been completed, the owners get an administrator to look after and market the premises to a potential occupant. Sometimes, the personality of these administrators will either make or break your business.

“There are times I have gone out looking for premises to rent and you find an ignorant manager, one who is not familiar with the features of the house.

“I remember asking one questions about the house including when it was finished, its owner, and, he absolutely had no clue on anything,” says Patricia Okalang, a tenant.

According to Okalang, administrators ought to have information regarding the house on their fingertips.

“If you hardly know anything about the house, then, how are you going to convince someone to rent it. It’s for this reason I did not rent this apartment. That administrator turned me off,” Okalang says.

Besides ignorance, some potential clients may get turned off by the administrator’s bad behaviour, for example, those with a hot temper or simply with poor customer care.

Okalang advises apartment owners to thoroughly lecture the administrators they leave behind to manage their properties.

“Tell them your expectations including the dos and don’ts when attending to clients. Failure to train these administrators gives them room to handle the clients their own way, which at times is a recipe for disaster,” Okalang says.

Landlord/lady residing in the same premises
You may have heard of arrangements whereby either the landlord or lady resides within the same apartment units.

In some cases, when a potential tenant learns of this, they immediately loose interest in renting it. Stories are often told that staying with either your landlord or lady within the same apartments can be catastrophic. A case in point, Mark Ssegane, 35, says a few years back, he was neighbours with his landlady.

“I was staying in one of her boy quarters which was self-contained house,” Ssegane says.

The problem with his landlady was that she had a habit of constantly snooping on him.

“From time to time, she would knock on my door asking me all sorts of questions including which guests I was bringing into the house,” he says.

Ssegane eventually found this annoying and left the premises after only one year.

The reasons for these clashes differ from tenant to another.

There are tenants who complain that some of these landlords and ladies have dictatorial tendencies, and, in some worst cases, impose rules within the premises. For example, some impose curfew on their tenants requiring that they should not be out past midnight hours.

Other deal breakers for tenants
Brian Walugonza, the head of business development at Home Care & Property Management Company in Ntinda, says in many cases commercial houses have faced a problem of low occupancy rates due to:
Location of the structure The most predominant factor when it comes to low occupancy rates is the location of the house or property.

Walugonza explains that most properties that are located in the suburbs are highly affected with low occupancy rates including those that are on the main road where people are always disrupted by the noise from hangouts as well as the moving cars yet people look forward to have a peaceful rest after work.

Commercial buildings far from the central business district may also face occupancy problems.
Rentals that are surrounded by very dusty roads are bound to stay vacant because people will not be comfortable with the environment.

Could be a mixed building Some landlords have adopted to the new trend of setting mixed business properties (commercial and residential) Walugonza defines a mixed property as one where the building’s lower floors are occupied by business people while the upper ones are for residential.
Some tenants might not be comfortable sharing premises with a businesses, ,especially those that cause noise pollution.

“While it makes sense for either the supermarket or bar to be down, there will be encroachment on the other residents’ privacy, in the long run, the tenants will vacate the building,” he explains.

Security
Some of the properties are located in isolated places that have high levels of insecurity. Not so many people will settle for such a house however beautiful or cheap renting it might be.

Disputes
In some instances, the property has all it takes to be occupied but Walugonza says if the owner of such property has land issues in court, there are high chances that the building will remain vacant until the issues are resolved.

The purely commercial buildings have also faced a big challenge due to the increase in online business operations which do not require renting physical premises.

What to do when the apartments remain unoccupied…
Adam Lwanga, of Prime Properties, a real estate agency based in Kampala gives the following options.
• Consider renovating the rental units, for example, by repainting the walls or fixing some of the broken household facilities.
• Put up extra services, for example, getting a security guard to look after the premises. Services such as this do lure some potential tenants.
• Sometimes, you have to reconsider the rent charges by slashing off a few figures. Reducing fees may lure some tenants into your apartments. Insisting on certain charges may continuously keep away clients.

• Co-renting out rooms on a commercial building is another way property owners should think about if they are to curb low occupancy rates.

Before putting up a business structure
Look at the nature of the building vis-a-vis the kind of neighbourhood
Understand your market, who are your target customers?
Look at the location and other amenities.
Consider the forces of demand in that area.
Do growth projection before deciding on which kind of building you want to out up.

(Compiled by Christine Katende)