Mall and Office Service Charges in Kampala

What does service charge cover in a mall?

It covers the costs of running the shared parts of a building and the services that serve every tenant. Knight Frank Uganda lists security, cleaning, repairs and replacements, property management, lighting and heating in common areas, insurance, utilities, garbage collection and lawn maintenance, and says the landlord and tenant can agree on others.

The law gives landlords the right to charge it. Section 46(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022 says a landlord may charge a service fee for any extra services provided to a tenant, including services relating to security, conservancy, sanitation and other amenities. Section 46(2) defines a service fee as an amount payable by a tenant, as part of or in addition to the rent, for services, repairs, maintenance, improvements or insurance, or the landlord's costs of management, and says it varies or may vary according to the relevant costs. Section 46(3) says the relevant costs are those incurred or to be incurred by or for the landlord for those matters. The Act applies to business and residential premises.

How is a service charge set?

The tenancy agreement sets it. Knight Frank explains that the amount depends on the type of property, how complex the building is, its location, how services are bought, the quality of service and what the lease says, and that charges are usually subject to a service charge audit and an annual budget. There is no single formula in the law.

In practice, a manager prepares a yearly budget of the costs of running the building and divides it among tenants. A common basis is each tenant's share of the lettable floor area, but the lease must say so. Ask for these four things before you sign.

1. The basis. Floor area share, or another method, written in the lease.
2. The budget. A cost-by-cost budget for the current year and the actual costs for the last year.
3. The audit right. Your right to see invoices and an audited statement.
4. The exclusions. A list of what the landlord may not charge to tenants, such as the landlord's own financing costs.

Knight Frank recommends open communication between occupiers, landlords and managers, and refers to the 2018 RICS professional statement on service charges as good practice.

How does service charge change my real rent?

It adds to your cost. Knight Frank's prime mall rents for H1 2026 are for ground-floor space in prime Kampala malls, and the review says they "exclude service charges". The table below shows them as published, in US dollars per square metre, with the space size.

Source: Knight Frank Uganda, H1 2026. The review does not state the rental period in the table, and the figures do not account for the shopfront-to-depth ratio. We do not publish a typical service charge, because we found no dated, published figure for Kampala malls that we could cite.

To see what a space really costs, add the service charge to the rent. As an illustration only, with round numbers that are not market prices: if a shop's rent is UGX 10 million a month and the service charge is UGX 2 million, the real monthly cost is UGX 12 million, which is 20 percent above the quoted rent. A tenant comparing two shops should compare the total, not the headline rent.

How do service charges affect occupancy?

When charges are high or unclear, tenants leave or avoid a building. A 2022 undergraduate dissertation at Makerere University, "Assessing the effect of service charge on the tenancy of shopping malls in Kampala", argues that unclear and unfair ways of dividing service charges, on top of high rents, frustrate tenants and reduce demand for rental space. Its abstract partly links the 2020 closures of anchor tenants to high service charges. This is a student study and its abstract is all we could read, so treat it as an informed argument and not as proof.

The wider market matters too. Knight Frank reported for H1 2026 that formal retail traded unevenly, that footfall softened, that occupancy in the malls it manages rose year on year, that prime rents held firm on tight supply, and that neighbourhood centres led leasing activity. Where prime malls are close to full, tenants have less bargaining power. In a weaker office market the position is reversed. Knight Frank described Kampala's office market as tenant-driven in H1 2026, so office tenants can negotiate harder on total occupancy cost. Read about office rents on office space Kampala.

Is service charge negotiable?

Often, yes, but how much depends on the building and the market. These are the points to raise.

• A cap. Ask for a limit on yearly increases, or an increase tied to a published index.
• A budget approval step. Ask that the annual budget be shared before the year begins.
• Vacant units. Ask who pays the share of empty units. Tenants should not carry the whole cost of vacancy.
• Services that stop. Section 28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022 says a landlord shall decrease the rent where the landlord ceases to provide any service agreed to for the occupancy, in proportion to the decrease in services. Write the list of services into the lease so this right is clear.
• Written terms. A tenancy agreement of twenty-five currency points or more is enforceable by action only if it is in writing or a data message, or if the other side admits it (section 4).

Get a lawyer to read the lease before you sign. For other lease terms, see Commercial Property in Uganda.

Where else do service charges appear?

Service charges are not only a mall issue. Apartment owners in condominiums pay them too, under a different legal basis, as covered in Condo Service Charge in Uganda. For another kind of commercial building with running costs, see Student Hostels Near Universities. If you are an owner thinking of buying a shop, see shops for sale Kampala, and compare costs with our hub for commercial property.

We hold no commercial listings as of 3 November 2026 (Land & Property listings, Nov 2026). You can browse commercial listings as agents add them, or ask our team on WhatsApp or by email to talk through a lease.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Commercial Property in Uganda: Shops, Offices, Warehouses
• Office Space in Kampala: Rents, Supply and Yields
• Student Hostels Near Universities: Buy or Build
• Commercial Property in Uganda: An Investor's Guide
• Shops and Commercial Buildings for Sale in Kampala
• Condo Service Charge in Uganda: How It Is Set