Most landlords price a unit one of two ways: they copy the block next door, or they work backwards from the mortgage. Both produce a number. Neither produces the right number.
Start with three real comparables
Not asking prices — agreed prices. An advert tells you what someone hoped to get; a signed lease tells you what a tenant actually paid. Ask three things of each comparable:
Is it the same size, in bedrooms and in square metres? Is it the same standard of finish? Is it within about a kilometre, on the same side of the main road?
That last one matters more in Nairobi than almost anywhere. Rent across Ngong Road can differ by a fifth for an identical unit, because the commute and the security profile are different.
Then price the difference honestly
Take the middle comparable and adjust for what you actually have:
Borehole or reliable water: worth real money in most estates Lift, in anything above the third floor: worth more than most landlords charge for Backup power: increasingly assumed rather than a premium Parking: a premium where street parking is impossible, nothing where it is easy A DSQ: significant for families, irrelevant for a young professional