Oysterbay Renovations

Beautiful 4 bedroom house for rent on Guinea street in Oysterbay

Available January 2019. Four bedroom house on Bongoyo Street Oysterbay. Send PM for more information.

Great ideas for a porch or interior space

A nice garden makes a House much more attractive

Beautiful 4 bedroom house on Mzinga Road in Oysterbay, Dar es Salaam. Available March 1st. PM or email: [email protected]

Beautiful 4 bedroom house on Msasani Road in Oysterbay. Includes swimming pool, servants quarters, generator, large parking area.

Looking for a great place to stay on the beach? Azura Health & Fitness Club has 1 and 2 bedroom cottages for rent. Located in Kawe/Mlalakuwa, opposite JKT

Available late August

This beautiful 4 bedroom house is located in Masaki in the old bandari (harbors) area just off Chole road near Slipway.

Rental Property Checklist
1. The landlord. There is a big difference from one landlord to the next in how much help you will get in dealing with various issues that arise during your tenancy. There are the normal repair and maintenance issues as well as problems with electricity and water supply from the utility companies. Many landlords will simply not help at all. Others will provide some assistance, but it will take them a long time to do so. The best thing to do is to get references from previous tenants on how helpful the landlord is in assisting with these problems.

2. Maintenance & Repair. Expect to have maintenance and repairs issues. Tanzania’s erratic water and electricity supply cause lots of problems with electrical appliances and plumbing system. Air conditioners need maintenance and repair. There will be days when the backup generator doesn’t turn on. The plumbing system will develop leaks. Kitchen appliances might stop working.

Backup generators and air conditioners need to be serviced after every three months. Normally, this is the responsibility of the tenant, but discuss this with the landlord so that it is clear.

3. Security. Oysterbay and Masaki are relatively safe areas. Most thefts are opportunistic and happen when you are traveling. Having trustworthy guards and household staff with good references is very important since many thefts are inside jobs. In terms of the property, the things to look at are: the surrounding properties (are they well secured?), the security wall around the property, and grills on the windows and doors. If you can speak to the previous tenants, they would give valuable input on their experience with the security of the property.

4. Electricity supply. Power outages are normal in Dar es Salaam. There is nothing you can do about that except to have a good backup generator. However, one of the things you can look at is whether the house experiences electricity outages or periods of low voltage due to localized problems (a problem with the power infrastructure for that particular neighborhood or street). In some areas, the transformer or certain lines supplying electricity to a particular street is overloaded leading to frequent localized power cuts or periods of low voltage.

The other thing you can look at is whether the house is on single phase (one incoming line) or three phase (three incoming lines) electricity. Generally three phase is better, especially if you have three or more air conditioners. With three phase electricity, you can lose electricity from one line while receiving electricity from the others. In this case, you will find that some parts of the house have electricity and some parts don’t. You might also find that one or more of the incoming lines provides lower voltage than the other lines due to that particular line being overloaded.

5. Backup Generator. Due to erratic electricity supply, generators are important. Things to look for are capacity, condition and whether it is a manual or automatic changeover. 20 kva is usually adequate for houses with generators on manual change-over. If it is automatic, then 25 -40 kva is better. The best way to test the generator is turn on everything in the house (especially all the air conditioners) and then go look at and listen to the generator. If it struggles to carry the load, makes a lot of noise or give off lots of smoke when fully loaded, then the generator might not be good.

6. Water supply. There can be a big difference in water supply from house to house and street to street due to differences in water infrastructure. Some areas have too many houses or apartment buildings drawing water from the same small pipe that was designed for only a few houses 50 years ago. The previous tenant would be the best person to ask about the water situation. Otherwise, you can check the water pressure at the point where the water enters the property – usually at a water tank or underground water reservoir. The best time to check is around 6:00 PM when everyone is at home using water and the water pressure tends to drop.

7. Water reservoir and water pressure. No matter how good your water supply, there will be times you have to buy water due to citywide water outages. When this happens you have to order a water truck to bring you water. These trucks carry 10,000 L so it is good to have water tanks or an underground reservoir of at least 10,000 L that can hold a full truck –load of water.

Another thing to look at is water pressure. Is the house using an overhead tank and gravity for pressure or is there a pressure pump to boost the water pressure? Open a shower and check the water pressure that comes out.

8. Roof and window leaks. This is a hard one to check when it is not raining, but look at the ceiling and walls under the windows for signs of water leaks.

9. Flooding. When you are looking for a house during the dry season (June – October), it is hard to imagine what the property will be like after some heavy rains. Some properties are prone to flooding during the rains. You can ask the landlord or previous tenant about whether the property has any problems with flooding during the rains.

10. Neighbors/noise. Some houses are near bars that make noise especially during the weekends. Check out the neighborhood and see if there are any places that make lots of noise.

11. Air conditioners. From October to June Dar es Salaam can get pretty hot so you will want to make sure you have some good air conditioners that have the capacity to cool the rooms. The best way to check the air conditioners is to turn them on and see how they work.

12. Appliances. If your house or apartment comes with a stove, fridge, chest freezer, cloth washer or other appliances, it is good to take a look at them and see what condition they are in. You should also ask your landlord if he repairs/replaces these appliances when they break down. You might find your fridge goes on the blink and your landlord is unresponsive about fixing or replacing it. In the meantime all your food goes bad!

Old colonial 4 bedroom house in Oysterbay. Located on Msasani Street near French school. House has been completed renovated and has high quality finishing. House sits on the top of a hill with a large garden area that slopes down to the swimming pool. There is a pool house/gym. Large parking area. Servants quarters on the back side of the house.

4 Bedroom bungalow on Bongoyo Street in Oysterbay for rent August 1st. Excellent floor plan and finishing. Great location just around the corner from Osaka Japanese restaurant and Food Lovers supermarket.

1 Bedroom cottage available for rent. Fully furnished. Located in Kawe at Azura Health & Fitness Club. Facilities include gym, fitness classes, beach, swimming pool, restaurant, horses, beach side BBQ grill, kayaks, and more. Only $950 per month. Flexible payment terms.

Newly renovated 3 bedroom apartment in Masaki. Fully furnished. Great location on Chole road near Bongo Flava restaurant. Walking distance to Slip Way, IST Seconday School, supermarkets, and restaurants. Great price.

New 4 Bedroom house in Oysterbay, off Guinea Street, near Best Western Hotel/Morogoro Store. Large garden