Picture this, It’s 8 a.m. on a Monday in Nairobi’s Upper Hill. You’re running late for a board meeting on the 14th floor. You step into the lift, press the button and nothing happens. Or worse, the doors close, the lift lurches upward, and then stops dead between floors.
In Kenya’s rapidly growing urban landscape from the glass towers of Westlands to the residential high rises of South B and Kiambu Road lifts (elevators) have gone from a luxury to an absolute necessity. Yet, building maintenance, especially for lifts, is still treated as an afterthought by too many property managers.
The consequences?
Costly breakdowns, tenant complaints, reputational damage and in extreme cases, life threatening accidents.
Whether you manage a commercial tower on Mombasa Road, a mixed use development in Thika Road Mall’s neighbourhood, or a residential apartment block in Ruaka, here are 5 critical warning signs that your building’s lift needs urgent professional attention right now.
1. 🔴 The Lift is Moving Slowly or Jerking Between Floors
You’ve seen it the lift that feels like it’s thinking about whether it really wants to go up. Or the one that jolts and shudders like a matatu hitting a pothole on Jogoo Road.
Abnormal movement is one of the earliest and most telling signs that something is seriously wrong. It could indicate:
Worn out or stretched cables that can no longer maintain consistent tension
Failing motor or drive system struggling to power the cab
Misaligned guide rails causing the cab to rub or snag as it moves
In Kenya’s high rise buildings especially older developments built in the 1990s and early 2000s the original lift systems are now well past their recommended service cycles. Jerky movement isn’t just uncomfortable; it’s a mechanical cry for help.
What to do: Call a certified lift technician immediately. Do not wait for the next scheduled service. A slow or jerking lift is a breakdown and potentially a fall waiting to happen.
2. 🟠 Doors That Don’t Open, Close Properly, or Align With the Floor
This is arguably the most dangerous sign on this list, and yet it’s so normalised in many Kenyan buildings that tenants just shrug and squeeze through.
If your lift doors:
Refuse to open after the cab arrives at a floor
Close too quickly, before passengers have cleared
Don’t align properly with the floor landing, creating a step up or step down gap then you have an urgent safety emergency on your hands.
Door misalignment is a leading cause of lift related injuries globally and Kenya is no exception. A gap of even a few centimetres between the cab floor and the building floor is enough to cause a serious fall, particularly for elderly residents, people with disabilities, or those carrying heavy loads.
Kenya’s National Construction Authority (NCA) and Electrical and Electronics Engineers codes require that lift doors function precisely and safely. A misaligned or faulty door is a compliance violation and a liability.
What to do: Take the lift out of service immediately and post a clear notice. Do not allow residents or tenants to use it until a qualified engineer has inspected and repaired the door mechanism.
3. 🟡 Strange Noises Grinding, Banging, or Squealing
A well maintained lift should be nearly silent. You hear the gentle hum of the motor, the soft swoosh of the doors and that’s it.
So when your lift starts sounding like it belongs in a Ghost movie grinding metal, loud banging on the shaft walls, or a persistent high pitched squeal pay attention.
These sounds typically indicate:
Grinding: Metal on metal contact from worn bearings, pulleys, or guide shoes
Banging: Loose components inside the shaft, counterweight issues, or buffer problems
Squealing: Dry or worn cables, sheave problems, or a motor in distress
In many Nairobi high rises, building managers have grown so accustomed to a noisy lift that they treat it as background noise. This is dangerous normalisation. In a country where spare parts for older lift brands can take weeks to source sometimes imported from Europe or Asia early intervention is critical to avoid a full mechanical failure.
What to do: Log every unusual sound and escalate to your lift maintenance contractor immediately. Unusual noises are rarely cosmetic; they almost always signal mechanical wear that will worsen.
4. 🔵 Frequent Breakdowns or Emergency Stops
If your building’s lift has been breaking down more than once a month, it is no longer a functioning asset it is a maintenance crisis.
In Kenya’s competitive real estate market where developers in Kilimani, Lavington, and Parklands are marketing luxury apartments with “state of the art” amenities a chronically broken lift is more than an inconvenience. It is a business risk.
Consider the ripple effect:
Residential buildings: Elderly tenants, parents with strollers, and people with mobility challenges are effectively stranded
Commercial buildings: Office tenants escalate complaints, and in worst cases, invoke lease break clauses
Hospitals and hotels: The stakes become even more critical when medical equipment or guests are involved
Frequent breakdowns often point to an aging system that has reached the end of its reliable service life typically 15 to 25 years for most lift models, depending on usage intensity and maintenance history.
What to do: Request a full technical audit from your lift maintenance company. If the lift is over 15 years old and breaking down regularly, it may be more economical and significantly safer to consider a full modernisation rather than patching an ailing system.
5. ⚫ The Emergency Phone, Lighting, or Alarm System is Not Working
This is the sign that building managers most commonly overlook because it doesn’t affect the lift’s immediate operation. The lift still goes up and down. So what’s the problem?
The problem is this: What happens when someone gets trapped?
In Nairobi, power outages thanks to our complicated relationship with Kenya Power are a regular occurrence. When the lights go out and a lift stalls between floors, the only thing standing between a terrified passenger and a full-blown panic situation is a functioning emergency phone, alarm button, and backup lighting.
If any of these are non functional:
A trapped passenger cannot call for help
Rescue teams cannot coordinate effectively
The person inside whether a child, an elderly resident, or someone with a medical condition is in genuine danger
Kenyan building codes and international lift safety standards explicitly require emergency communication systems to be operational at all times. A non-working emergency system is not a minor fault. It is a regulatory violation and a moral failure.
What to do: Test your lift’s emergency phone, alarm, and backup lighting this week. Don’t assume it works because it hasn’t been needed. Have your technician carry out immediate repairs if any component is faulty.
The Bottom Line: Maintenance is Not Optional
Kenya’s urban skyline is changing fast. From Nairobi to Mombasa, Kisumu to Nakuru, high rise living and working is the new normal. But with height comes responsibility.
A lift is not a luxury feature to be inspected once a year and forgotten. It is a safety critical system that demands regular, professional maintenance and an owner or manager who takes the warning signs seriously.
If your building’s lift is showing any of the five signs above, do not delay. Contact a certified lift maintenance engineer, put safety first, and protect the people who trust your building every single day.
Because in Nairobi where everyone is always running late the last thing anyone needs is to be stuck between floors.
Call 0798 111 666 for all your lift installation and maintenance needs