- High rents and land prices are driving Nairobi churches to lease idle plots
- One congregation pays Ksh15,000 a month for its land
- An eighth of an acre can cost more than Ksh3.5 million
- Disputes arise when landlords want the land back before a church can move
High rents and land prices are pushing Nairobi churches to lease idle plots between residential buildings, Citizen Digital reported on June 6, 2022. Kenya has more than 4,000 churches, according to the National Council of Churches of Kenya, many of them in the capital.
Pastor Denis Oketch said his congregation pays “Ksh15,000 monthly rent for this land space”. Buying is out of reach for many: “an eighth of an acre” can cost “more than Ksh3.5 Million” locally. A caretaker in Komarocks said “three days hardly pass without him receiving a call from potential tenants looking to put up a temporary church on an idle land.”
The arrangement brings its own problems. “Problem arises when the landowner does not have the patience to wait for one or two years for the church to vacate,” Oketch said.
Some congregations eventually buy the plots they rent, but new churches struggle to pay for land and construction at the same time.
Many young Jamaican congregations follow the same path: renting a room, a plaza unit or a vacant lot before they can afford a home of their own. The Nairobi experience suggests a few safeguards. Get a written lease with a notice period long enough to relocate, avoid building permanent structures on land you do not own, and, if the plan is to buy, agree an option to purchase with the landowner early, while the price is known.
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