Kilimani

In the heart of Nairobi, the once-luxurious areas of Kilimani and Lavington, now home to a mixture of affluent dwellings and substandard apartments, have become a battleground between landlords seeking to maximize their profits and tenants struggling to find a safe and habitable place to live. Among the labyrinth of high-rises and modest flats, one particularly cold and unwelcoming building stood out: Bric Apartments.

The Bric Apartments were marketed as a modern residential option for families, but beneath the glossy exterior, the reality was far different. The building, which had been poorly constructed, was a testament to the disregard for quality that had come to plague certain parts of Nairobi. The apartments were notorious for their substandard conditions, a chilling coldness that crept into the walls, and the constant, biting drafts that seemed to invade every corner.

House number C091, located on the top floor, was one of the worst. Its thick, drafty walls offered no insulation from the harsh Nairobi nights, and the windows rattled against the wind. Despite the rent being high for the area, the apartment seemed to have been neglected by the landlord, Mr. Liu Wenfu. Mr. Liu who works for Endeavours Construction Company, a firm that had garnered a reputation for cutting corners when it came to building materials. His company was responsible for the construction of several other buildings in the area, many of which had faced similar complaints.

For a tenant who is a young mother who had recently moved in, the cold was more than just an inconvenience—it was a threat to her infant’s health. She had hoped that the apartment would provide a safe place for her family, but from the moment she entered, she realized the place was a far cry from what she had expected. The draft was so intense that no amount of heating or blankets could make the rooms comfortable.

One night, a few weeks into her stay, her baby began to cough uncontrollably, his small body shivering as the cold seemed to seep into his bones. Despite her best efforts to warm him, the chill was relentless. Her heart sank as she realized that the apartment, designed to be a cozy home, had become a source of illness. The cold, she suspected, was the cause of her infant’s sickness.

Desperate for a solution, the tenant contacted Mr. Liu, explaining the situation and asking if there was any way the apartment could be made livable. Mr. Liu, who had been largely unresponsive to earlier complaints about the heating and insulation, promised that he would have the issue addressed. However, days turned into weeks, and nothing changed. The cold persisted, and her child’s condition worsened.

In the end, the tenant had no choice but to move out. She contacted Mr. Liu once again, asking for a refund of her deposit. She had paid a significant amount upfront, believing that she was securing a decent place to live, but now she was left with a sick child and the burden of finding another home. Mr. Liu, however, refused to honor his promise.

Despite the numerous assurances he had made to her, when it came time to refund her deposit, Mr. Liu grew evasive.

The tenant was not the only one. Other tenants had faced similar issues. They had endured months of broken promises, unpaid deposits, and substandard living conditions. The landlord’s negligence and disregard for their wellbeing had become a pattern, and yet he continued to operate without consequence.

In a city where the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen, the plight of tenants like the mother above is often ignored. The conditions in buildings like Bric Apartments were a reminder of the darker side of Nairobi’s real estate boom, where profit often came at the expense of the most vulnerable. Mr. Liu Wenfu, once a well-regarded figure in the construction industry, had become a symbol of the greed and corruption that ran rampant in the heart of the city.

And so, the tenant and her child moved on, hoping for better days, while Mr. Liu remained unscathed, continuing to collect rent from unsuspecting tenants, indifferent to the human cost of his actions.