Responsiveness of Property Management Firms to the Increasing Expectations in the Property Management Sector in Kenya A Case Study of Property Management Firms in Juja Town

A Research Project Report Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master in Strategic Management (MBA)The aim of this study is to investigate the responsiveness of property management firms to the increasing expectations in the property management sector in Kenya with focus to property management firms in Juja town. The study is guided by the following research objectives: to examine the responsiveness of property management firms to the increasing expectations of property owners in Kenya, to investigate the responsiveness of property management firms to the increasing expectations of tenants in Kenya and to study the responsiveness of property management firms to the increasing expectations of other stakeholders in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design and the population of the study was made up of the 5 property management firms in Juja town. The study carried out a census of the 5 property management firms and all the 45 employees in those firms. Stratified random sampling was used to divide the population into two strata’s comprising of the management and non-management staff. Data for the study was collected using a questionnaire, which had both structured and unstructured questions. The questionnaires were then administered to the sampled respondents. The data collected was edited for accuracy, consistency, and completeness, then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the statistical package for social studies (SPSS), and then presented using tables and pie charts. The findings of the study revealed that property management firms do meet the expectations of the property owners and employ various strategies to meet the expectation of the property owners. The study also revealed that tenants are more aware and very concerned about the level of service they receive. In addition, the study found that to meet the expectations of various authorities property management firms applied strategies like regular review of laws and regulations, payment of rates, taxes and licenses on time and obeying all the relevant laws. The study concluded that property management firms use various strategies to meet the increasing expectations of the property owners, outstanding tenants’ service means meeting and anticipating the tenant needs and property management firms are bound by professionalism and ethics. The study recommended that property management firms should continually revise the strategies they employ to meet the increasing expectations of the property owners and that property management firms should strive to meet outstanding tenants’ services and tenant needs. Additionally, the study recommended that property managers should be familiar with laws concerning real estate, property management, laws of contract, the law of agency and negligence and consumer protection laws