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This article concerns the nature of landlordism and landlord–tenant relations in Kenya’s smaller towns and cities and takes as its case studies Kisumu and Kitale. There is a pressing need to understand the variable ways in which rental tenure is produced in low-income areas and the interaction between inequality and the private provision of housing. This article contends that rental tenure has a long and complex history in Kenyan cities and remains the dominant mode of housing production in low-income areas. The article critically examines the ways in which different forms of landlordism, such as absentee landlordism, have different connotations when applied to smaller Kenyan town and cities. Moreover, the article analyses the symbiotic relationship between landlords and tenants, particularly regarding tensions surrounding the extraction of rent. Lastly, the wider socio-spatial significance of landlordism is …