The diaspora landlord: How your Kenyan rent is taxed when you live abroad

In brief

• Since 1 July 2026, a new section 6B of the Income Tax Act requires a non-resident earning rent from Kenyan property to register with KRA under a simplified framework, file a return and pay the tax monthly, by the twentieth day of the month after the rent is received. The tax is final.
• The rate KRA has announced for non-resident landlords is 30 per cent of gross rent, with no deduction for expenses, repairs, mortgage interest or management fees. On rent of KES 100,000 a month, the tax is KES 30,000. The 7.5 per cent monthly rate many landlords know belongs to residents of Kenya only.
• Where a resident agent in Kenya receives the rent and withholds the tax, the direct filing duty falls away, which makes the choice between registering yourself and appointing an agent the first practical decision every diaspora landlord now faces.

The flat in Kilimani that pays its own mortgage, the maisonette in Syokimau the family watches over, the apartment bought off plan and finally earning, each of them has a landlord abroad who has usually thought carefully about tenants and hardly at all about KRA. For years that inattention cost little, because enforcement against owners outside the jurisdiction was thin. The Finance Act, 2026 changed the architecture. A new section 6B of the Income Tax Act [link], in force since 1 July 2026, is written specifically for the non-resident landlord, and KRA has followed it with registration systems, data from the land registry and the banks, and a public statement of how it intends the regime to work. This article explains who the section catches, what it costs, how the monthly compliance runs, the agent alternative, and the question our American clients ask most, which is what happens when the United States also wants tax on the same rent.

Who section 6B catches

The section applies to a non-resident person whose income comes from the use or occupation of property situated in Kenya, and the word that does the work is resident, which in tax law has nothing to do with citizenship. A Kenyan citizen is non-resident for a tax year if Kenya is no longer where their permanent home is and their presence in the country falls below the thresholds the Income Tax Act sets, broadly one hundred and eighty-three days in the year or an averaged presence over three years. The nurse in Dallas, the engineer in Manchester and the consultant in Doha are, in the ordinary case, non-residents, and their Kenyan rent is squarely within the section however Kenyan their passports. The dual citizen who read our article on dual citizenship and the order of operations should note the asymmetry, because citizenship decides what land you may own while residence decides how its income is taxed, and the two questions have different answers for most of the diaspora.

The rate, and the arithmetic nobody enjoys

Section 6B itself takes its rate from the Third Schedule, and KRA has stated the position plainly for non-resident landlords. The tax is 30 per cent of gross rental income, it is final, and nothing is deductible, not the mortgage interest, not the agent’s commission, not the repairs after the last tenant. A property earning KES 100,000 a month therefore pays KES 30,000 a month in tax, against the KES 7,500 a Kenyan-resident landlord would pay on the same residential rent under the 7.5 per cent monthly regime, which applies to residents only. Some commentary in circulation quotes lower figures for non-residents, and it is wrong, so a landlord planning cash flow should work from KRA’s stated rate and treat anything gentler as a pleasant surprise. The width of the gap between 7.5 and 30 per cent also means that residence status, and the structure in which the property is held, are now questions worth professional advice before a purchase or a return home, not after, because a Kenyan company that owns the property is a resident person taxed under a different regime altogether, and what suits one portfolio will not suit another.

The monthly discipline, and what lateness costs

For the landlord who deals with KRA directly, the compliance is monthly and unforgiving of drift. Registration is through the simplified framework the Commissioner has prescribed for non-residents, and thereafter each month’s rent must be declared and its tax paid on or before the twentieth day of the following month. Late payment attracts a penalty of 5 per cent of the unpaid tax together with interest at 1 per cent a month until it is settled, and because the obligation repeats every month, a landlord who drifts for a year has accumulated twelve separate defaults, each growing quietly. Enforcement is no longer theoretical. KRA draws on land registry records, bank information and the registration data landlords themselves have filed, and a stale rental file now surfaces at the worst moments, when a property is being sold and clearance is needed, when an estate is being administered, or when the landlord finally returns home. The cure for arrears is voluntary disclosure and settlement before KRA raises the matter, and the cure is always cheaper when it is chosen rather than forced.

The agent alternative

The Act provides one way out of the monthly filing, and for many families it is the practical answer. Where a resident person in Kenya receives the rent on the non-resident’s behalf, a property manager, a professional agent, often a relative, and the withholding tax under section 35 applies, the landlord’s own filing duty under section 6B falls away, because the agent withholds the tax from each month’s rent and accounts to KRA directly. The arrangement needs to be real rather than assumed. The agent should be registered for the obligation, the withholding should actually happen each month, and the landlord should receive the evidence of remittance, because an agent who collects the rent and withholds nothing has not relieved the landlord of anything, and the relative who never signed up for tax compliance is a poor person to discover this with. Where the rent already flows through a managed arrangement, aligning it with the withholding regime is usually a single conversation, and our article on protecting money moving the other way, through an advocate’s client account, describes the same discipline applied to purchase funds.

The American question

Half of Kenya’s remittances come from North America, so the question arrives constantly, and the answer surprises people. There is no income tax treaty in force between Kenya and the United States. Nothing prevents both countries taxing the same rent, Kenya because the property is here, the United States because it taxes its citizens and residents on worldwide income, and the relief, if there is any, comes not from a treaty but from the foreign tax credit machinery of US law, whose application to a final gross-basis tax is a question for a US adviser rather than a Kenyan one. The practical counsel is modest and firm. A diaspora landlord in the United States should plan on engaging with both systems, keep the Kenyan compliance clean because the US side starts from the records, and take the two sets of advice together rather than letting each adviser assume the other’s system away. Landlords in the United Kingdom and some other countries sit under treaties that do change the analysis, which is one more reason the right first step is a conversation about your particular facts.

What happens next

Elsewhere in this series, our articles on the power of attorney signed abroad and on dual citizenship, the KRA PIN and Ardhisasa cover the machinery of transacting in Kenya from abroad. For a rental position you want regularised, an agent arrangement set up properly, or advice on how a purchase should be structured with the tax in view, the place to start is a conversation.

Frequently asked questions

How much tax does a non-resident landlord pay on Kenyan rent?

KRA has stated the rate at 30 per cent of gross rental income, as a final tax with no deductions, payable monthly. On rent of KES 100,000 a month the tax is KES 30,000. The 7.5 per cent monthly residential rate applies only to landlords who are tax residents of Kenya.

I am a Kenyan citizen living abroad. Does section 6B apply to me?

Usually yes, because the section turns on tax residence rather than citizenship. A Kenyan whose permanent home and presence have shifted abroad is ordinarily a non-resident, and rent from Kenyan property is then taxed under section 6B however long they have held a Kenyan passport.

When and how do I file?

Through KRA’s simplified registration framework for non-residents, with a return filed and the tax paid by the twentieth day of the month after the month the rent is received. Late payment attracts a 5 per cent penalty plus interest at 1 per cent a month.

My sister collects the rent for me. Does that change anything?

It can. Where a resident agent receives the rent and withholds the tax under section 35, your own monthly filing duty falls away. The arrangement only protects you if the agent is registered for the obligation, withholds every month and can show you the remittances, so it should be set up deliberately rather than assumed.

Is there a tax treaty between Kenya and the United States?

No. No income tax treaty is in force between Kenya and the United States, so both countries may tax the same rent, and any relief comes from the foreign tax credit rules of US law. A US-based landlord should take Kenyan and US advice together.

Peter Maina is a Partner of Peter Maina & Company Advocates. This article states the law as at 29 October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. To regularise a rental position, set up a withholding agent properly or structure a purchase with the tax in view, reach out on e-mail peter@pmlaw.co.ke or WhatsApp +254 714 644 080.