Verified before you move in
Enquiring is open. Before a booking is confirmed and a deposit moves, both sides complete a government ID check, so nobody hands over a key or a month's rent to an unverified stranger.
Shared homes only, zero commission
Find the room. Meet the household.
Rooms are let by the week or longer. Want a whole place to yourself, or just a few nights? Studios, bedsitters and entire flats live on Cabana Stays.
Built for the part that actually goes wrong
Room hunting fails on trust, not on listings. These are the three places money and safety usually leak, and what this page does about each.
The real number, before you enquire
Rent is the easy part. Every room here totals rent plus deposit into the cash you need on move-in day, and says plainly whether bills are inside the rent or on top of it.
No cut, no markup, no agent fee
Cabana takes zero commission. Rent and deposit go from you to the host by M-Pesa or bank, exactly as listed. There is no service fee bolted on at the end and no viewing fee to unlock a number.
Before you pay anyone
Room scams in Nairobi follow a pattern, and it is a short one. Five habits break it.
See it before you send it
View the room in person, or on a live video call where the host walks the whole flat in one take. A host who will not show you the room while you watch is not showing you a room.
Meet the flatmates, not just the host
The people already in the flat decide what living there is like. Ask them about water, power, the landlord, and how bills actually get split. Two minutes with them beats any listing description.
Get it in writing, keep the receipt
Rent, deposit, notice period, what the deposit covers and when it comes back. Pay to a named account or M-Pesa till you can trace, keep every receipt, and keep the conversation inside Cabana chat so there is a record.
Questions people actually ask
How much does it cost to find a room on Cabana?
Nothing. Cabana charges no commission and no booking fee. You pay rent and deposit directly to the host, so the price on a listing is the price you pay.
What deposit is normal for a room in Nairobi?
One month of rent, refundable, is the usual arrangement. Some landlords ask for two, and serviced rooms sometimes ask for less. Every listing here shows the deposit separately from the rent and totals your real move-in cost before you enquire, so you are never surprised on the day.
Do I have to verify my identity to message a host?
No. Messaging a host is open to any Cabana account. The one-time ID check happens when you go ahead with a booking, before a deposit moves or a viewing is confirmed. Your document is stored securely and is never shown publicly.
Should I pay a deposit before viewing the room?
No. View the room in person or on a live video call first, meet the people already living there, and confirm the host controls the property. Pay only once you have seen it and have a written agreement. Anyone who refuses a viewing but wants a deposit is running a scam, without exception.
Can I list a spare room?
Yes, and it is free. Add photos, rent, deposit, house rules and the kind of flatmate you want. Enquiries arrive in your Cabana inbox, every guest is ID-verified before a booking is confirmed, and you keep 100% of the rent.
What is the difference between Rooms and Stays?
Rooms is flatshares: you rent a bedroom in a home where other people already live, and you share the kitchen, living room or bathroom with them. Listings show who is already there and what the house rules are. Stays is the opposite, a self-contained place with nobody else in it, whether that is a studio, a bedsitter or an entire flat, booked by the night. If a listing has no existing occupants to share with, it belongs on Stays and you will not find it here.
What is the shortest I can rent a room for?
One week. Every room here sets its own minimum stay, from one week up to a year, and the figure is shown on the listing before you enquire. Most Nairobi hosts ask for three months because that is how the deposit and notice period usually work, but rooms taking a week or a month exist and you can filter for them with the short minimum stay chip. If you need somewhere for a night or a weekend, that is a nightly booking and it lives on Stays instead.
Which cities have rooms?
Rooms can be listed anywhere Cabana operates, which is every African country. Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret are the most active in Kenya. Search accepts any place name, so a room in Thika or Naivasha is findable the moment it is posted.
Got a spare room? Fill it this week.
Listing takes a few minutes and costs nothing. You choose who moves in, every enquiry comes from an ID-verified person, and the rent is yours in full.