A recent Knight Frank review put prime Kampala occupancy at roughly 82%, a 2-point fall from the prior half-year — meaning even well-located properties are losing income to vacancy that better management could prevent. In some luxury segments, vacancy rates can exceed 20%. Every empty month is rent that never comes back.
Across our region, many landlords hand property management to a spouse, sibling, or cousin — trusted, but rarely trained for it. The result is rarely dramatic. It’s quiet: rent collected inconsistently, maintenance deferred until it’s an emergency, no tenant screening, no renewal strategy, no read on where the market is moving.
The numbers tell the real story. Industry data shows a single poorly managed vacancy period can cost more than a full year of professional management fees. Tenant turnover alone often runs the equivalent of a month’s rent in re-letting costs. And deferred maintenance doesn’t disappear — it compounds, quietly eroding the asset’s resale value.
At Aldermoor Property Group, we don’t just manage buildings — we advise owners, clients and non-clients alike, on how to actually optimize what a property earns. Whether it’s a single rental unit or a commercial portfolio, the real question isn’t “who’s managing it?” It’s “is it performing?”
What’s the most costly property mistake you’ve seen made with good intentions?