Service Charge Disputes in Nairobi Apartments

A service charge you cannot account for is money out of your pocket every single month. If you own a flat in Nairobi and the bill keeps climbing while the lift still sticks and the corridors stay unlit, you are within your rights to ask why. You can request the accounts. You can ask for a line-by-line breakdown. Where your building is registered under the Sectional Properties Act 2020, the corporation of owners must hand over its financial statements, budgets and meeting records within 20 days of your written request. This guide covers what a service charge should fund, the law behind it, the warning signs of a poorly run scheme, and the lawful way to put a dispute right.

We have managed residential estates and apartment schemes in Nairobi for 30 years, and most service-charge rows share one root cause: nobody can see where the money goes. Fix the visibility and the argument usually settles itself.

What a service charge is meant to fund

Your service charge pays for the shared parts of the building, the bits no single owner holds alone. Think of everything past your own front door.

In a typical Nairobi apartment block that means security, cleaning of common areas, the shared water supply and borehole, the generator and its fuel, lift servicing, common-area electricity, gardening, refuse collection, insurance of the common property, and minor repairs. A well-run scheme also sets aside a reserve, a sinking fund, for the big-ticket items that arrive on their own timetable: a lift overhaul, a new water pump, exterior repainting, roof works.

A proper budget matches each shilling to a category. A statement that simply says "service charge" with one lump figure tells you nothing. A good one breaks down into headings you can check against your own experience: security and guarding, cleaning and waste, common-area water and electricity, generator running, lift maintenance, gardening, common-property insurance, day-to-day repairs, a reserve or sinking fund contribution, and the management fee where an agent is appointed.

Two things should never sit on that list. The charge should not pay for the inside of any individual flat. And it should not cover the developer's unsold units, leaving paying owners to carry the empties. If you spot either, you have a fair question to raise.

Your rights as an apartment owner

Many owners do not realise how much standing the law gives them. You are not at the mercy of whoever holds the cheque book.

i) Where the Sectional Properties Act applies

If your building has been converted to sectional titles, it falls under the Sectional Properties Act No. 21 of 2020. The Act, which commenced in December 2020, replaced the older 1987 legislation and changed the picture for owners in a real way.

Two sections matter most for service charges. Under Section 17, a corporation is formed automatically the moment the sectional plan is registered, and every unit owner becomes a member by default. You do not apply to join. Under Section 20, the corporation has a clear set of duties: keep the common property in good repair, maintain a fund for administrative expenses, and raise contributions from owners in proportion to their unit entitlement. Your service charge is not an arbitrary number. It is a proportional contribution the law obliges the corporation to keep.

Not every Nairobi block has completed the conversion to sectional titles yet. Some still operate under older long-lease or management-company arrangements. The principles below still apply, but the exact statutory hooks differ, so it pays to confirm how your building is held before you act.

ii) The owners' corporation and its duties

The corporation is, in effect, all of you acting together through a committee. It budgets, collects contributions, maintains common property, keeps the books, and reports back. It owes those duties to the owners, not to the developer or the agent. When a scheme goes wrong, it is usually because the corporation was never properly stood up or stopped doing the essential work of accounting honestly.

You also have a right to information. Under Section 36 of the Act, the corporation must, within 20 days of a written request, give you copies of financial statements, the budget, by-laws, meeting minutes, and details of any outstanding contributions. That single provision is the most useful tool most owners never use.

Signs your service charge is being mismanaged

In our work across managed schemes in Nairobi, the same red flags come up again and again. None proves wrongdoing on its own. Together, they tell you it is time to ask harder questions.

i) Opaque accounts and missing statements

The clearest warning sign is silence. No annual statement. No budget circulated before the year begins. A request for accounts met with delay, a vague promise, or a flat refusal. If you cannot get a written breakdown after asking in writing, that alone is a problem, because the law says you are entitled to one.

Watch too for a single pooled account where the scheme's money mixes with the developer's or the agent's own funds. Service-charge money should sit in its own ring-fenced account. When it does not, it becomes impossible to tell whose money paid for what.

ii) Charges that never seem to deliver

The second pattern is money in, nothing visible out. The charge rises every year, yet the generator is unserviced, the borehole is dry by mid-morning, the lift is permanently "awaiting parts." A rising charge against falling service is the loudest signal of all. So is a budget with a large, unexplained "miscellaneous" line that swallows a suspicious share of the total. Contingencies are normal. A contingency that is a third of the budget is not.

Raising a query the right way

Most owners do one of two things when they suspect a problem, and both make it worse. They either say nothing and quietly seethe, or they stop paying. There is a better path, and it starts with paper.

a) Requesting accounts and a breakdown

Put your request in writing. A short, dated email or letter to the committee or managing agent, asking for the current budget, the most recent financial statements, and a line-by-line breakdown. Reference your right to that information. Keep a copy of everything you send and receive. A calm paper trail is worth far more than a heated WhatsApp exchange when a matter needs to go further.

b) Putting concerns in writing

Once you have the figures, set out your specific concern plainly. Not "the service charge is too high," which invites a shrug, but "the security line has risen 40 per cent year on year while guard numbers have not changed, please explain." Specific, evidenced questions are hard to brush aside. Give a reasonable deadline for a reply. Keep paying your charge in the meantime unless you have firm legal advice to do otherwise. Withholding payment puts you in default and weakens your hand.

Escalation and dispute resolution

If a written query does not settle the matter, you escalate in steps. Jumping straight to court is rarely necessary and almost never the cheapest route.

i) The role of meetings and resolutions

The owners' meeting is your most powerful forum, and it is underused. Get the issue onto the agenda in writing, ahead of time, and bring your evidence. Ask for a recorded resolution: a budget approved line by line, an instruction that proper statements be issued, the appointment of an independent reviewer, or a change of agent if it comes to that. A resolution carries weight that a single complaining owner does not. Find two or three other owners who share the concern and you are no longer a lone voice.

ii) When external review is warranted

Sometimes an internal route runs out of road. The committee is the problem, or the figures simply do not add up. An independent service-charge review, carried out by a qualified professional with no stake in the building, establishes the facts on neutral ground. The Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) sets the professional standards for property managers in Kenya, including property and facilities management guidelines that a competent agent should be following. Where there has been a genuine breach of duty, or a refusal to provide accounts the law requires, the relevant tribunal or courts are available, and the records you have built are the backbone of your case.

For the legal framework, Kenya Law publishes the full text of the Sectional Properties Act and related statutes, and the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning oversees the registration of sectional titles.

How a professional manager prevents disputes

It is easier to prevent a service-charge dispute than to unwind one. Almost every row we are called into traces back to weak record-keeping and a committee stretched too thin to do the accounting properly.

  i) Transparent budgets and reporting

A professional managing agent removes the guesswork. The budget is drawn up before the year starts and circulated to owners for approval. Statements are itemised. The scheme's money sits in its own dedicated account. Invoices are kept and can be produced on request. Regular reporting replaces the once-a-year scramble.

We have seen the temperature in a building drop simply because, for the first time, every owner could open a statement and understand it. Transparency does not just satisfy the law. It rebuilds trust between neighbours.

Beyond clean monthly accounts, a well-governed scheme also plans ahead: a reserve fund for big repairs, an annual account that can withstand scrutiny, and a maintenance plan so spending is deliberate rather than reactive. A scheme run this way rarely produces disputes, because there is nothing hidden to argue about.

That is the real difference between a managing agent and a caretaker. Our piece on facilities versus property management sets out where one ends and the other begins. Our guide to what your service charge should cover goes deeper on the line items, and our overview of landlord and tenant laws in Kenya is a useful companion read. For how we run residential schemes day to day, see our property management services in Kenya page.

An owner's service-charge checklist

• Confirm how your building is held: sectional title under the 2020 Act, or an older lease or management-company structure.
• Request the current budget, financial statements, and a line-by-line breakdown in writing.
• Check whether scheme money sits in its own dedicated account, not pooled with others.
• Compare the charge year on year and match rises to actual service levels.
• Question any large, unexplained "miscellaneous" or "contingency" line.
• Confirm whether there is a reserve or sinking fund.
• Put specific, evidenced concerns in a dated letter and keep copies.
• Raise the issue at the owners' meeting and ask for a recorded resolution.
• Keep paying unless you have firm legal advice otherwise.
• Consider an independent review before any formal step.

Getting an independent review

A service charge should be the least controversial bill you pay. When it stops feeling fair, the answer is almost always more light, not less payment. Ask for the accounts. Use the rights the law gives you. Insist on a budget you can read.

If your scheme has lost its way, or you simply want a clear-eyed second opinion on whether your charge is reasonable and properly run, speak to our REAL Management Services team. We can carry out a service-charge review, take over the running of a poorly managed scheme where owners agree, and put transparent budgeting and reporting in place so the disputes stop before they start.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is my service charge supposed to cover?

Security, cleaning, common-area water and electricity, lifts, the borehole, the generator, gardening, refuse collection, common-property insurance, and a reserve for future repairs. Not the inside of any individual flat, and not the developer's unsold units.

Can I demand to see service-charge accounts?

Yes. Where your building is registered under the Sectional Properties Act 2020, the corporation must give you copies of financial statements, the budget, by-laws and meeting records within 20 days of a written request under Section 36. Ask in writing and keep a copy.

What does the Sectional Properties Act say about service charges?

Under the Act No. 21 of 2020, a corporation of all unit owners is formed automatically on registration of the sectional plan (Section 17). The corporation must maintain an administrative fund and levy contributions in proportion to unit entitlement (Section 20). Owners have a right to inspect key records under Section 36.

How do I dispute a service charge I think is wrong?

Request the accounts in writing. Set out your specific concern in a dated letter and keep the trail. Raise it at the owners' meeting and ask for a recorded resolution. If the matter remains unresolved, an independent review or the relevant tribunal is the next step. Keep paying unless you have firm legal advice otherwise.

Can a managing agent take over a poorly run scheme?

Yes, where owners agree to appoint one. A professional agent prepares a transparent budget, issues itemised statements, runs a separate scheme account, and reports regularly. That structure removes most of the suspicion that causes disputes. Speak to our REAL Management Services team for a service-charge review.

By The Real Management Team
Real Management Services (2002) Limited, property experts in Nairobi for 30 years.
Last reviewed: 2026-06-16

This article is general information for Nairobi apartment owners and is not legal advice. The exact rights and procedures depend on how your building is held and on the current law. Confirm the statutory position for your own scheme, and speak to our team for guidance specific to your building.