Upperoom Listings Puts Tenants First in the Rental Market

House hunting in Nigeria has long been a stressful, costly, and exploitative process. From endless movements from lodge to lodge, to dishonest agents charging outrageous inspection fees, tenants are often left frustrated. Enter Upperoom Listings, a platform built by Jesse Obelem Braide, a software engineer who once faced the same struggles as a university student looking for accommodation. His experience inspired him to create a tenant-first solution that reimagines the rental process.

The current rental experience is broken. Agents demand high fees and inspection charges, often with little accountability. Landlords, meanwhile, are not always available or tech-savvy enough to manage listings online. For many tenants, this creates a cycle of stress, wasted money, and mistrust.

Upperoom Listings takes a bold approach: no agents, no inspection fees. Instead, it empowers outgoing tenants to list their apartments for incoming tenants. This tenant-to-tenant model solves multiple problems:

• Affordability: No inflated agent percentages or inspection charges.
• Transparency: Listings are verified by Upperoom after KYC checks.
• Trust: Outgoing tenants earn commissions for successful listings, incentivising honesty.
  

The model ensures that clients only pay a reservation fee (₦18,000 for rentals under ₦200,000 and ₦25,000 for rentals above ₦200,000). This fee grants access to verified listing details, including lister contacts and house location.

The Upperoom Listings Reservation Process

For listers:

1. Register and complete KYC verification (government-issued ID, selfie, bank account details).
2. Provide house details, including rent, location, and features.
3. Submit for Upperoom’s verification before going live.
   

For clients:

1. Register and complete KYC.
2. Browse verified listings.
3. Pay the reservation fee to unlock lister details.
4. Schedule a free inspection.
5. Decide within 48 hours whether to proceed or cancel. Refunds are available (full before inspection, 50% after the 48-hour decision period).
   

This structure eliminates the shady inspection fee culture and creates accountability for both sides.

Since its launch, Upperoom has attracted 189 listers and 788 clients, with apartments typically reserved within two days of listing. From June to July alone, the platform processed 13 reservations out of 24 listings, with lessons from early feedback directly shaping improvements in verification and security.

The team is also experimenting with fee structures to balance sustainability with empathy for tenants.

Unlike competitors, Upperoom is not agent-driven. It is built from the tenant’s perspective, removing exploitative practices while maintaining affordability and reliability through verification. In doing so, it has positioned itself as a trusted bridge between outgoing and incoming tenants.

Upperoom is focusing on Port Harcourt to refine its model before expanding across Nigeria. In the next two to three years, Braide envisions Upperoom becoming a household name for stress-free rentals, covering not only residential housing but also shops, hostels, and short-term rentals.

Our mission at Upperoom is to simplify housing by linking outgoing tenants and landlords to renters seeking safe, affordable spaces that truly fit their needs,” says founder Jesse Obelem Braide.