How to choose rental management software in Kenya

1. Who holds the rent money?

Some systems collect rent into their own account and pay you later, which adds delay, fees and risk. Others let tenants pay your own paybill or bank account and only record the payment. Ask this first.

2. How are M-Pesa payments recorded?

• Does each tenant get their own account number?
• Are payments matched automatically when Safaricom notifies the system, or do you type them in?
• What happens when a tenant types the account number wrong?
• Can you upload an M-Pesa or bank statement to catch anything missed?

3. Receipts, reminders and arrears

• A numbered receipt for every payment, by SMS and email.
• Reminders before and after the due date, sent automatically.
• One list of who owes what, with optional late fees and follow-up notes.

4. Statements, expenses and tax

• Monthly statements per property, with expenses.
• Your monthly rental income tax (MRI) figure from rent actually received.
• For agents: statements and commission per property owner.

5. People, devices and data

• Caretaker logins limited to their own buildings.
• Works on a phone, for you and for tenants.
• Export to PDF and CSV, so your records are never locked in.

6. Pricing

Compare a flat monthly price with a percentage of rent collected: at KES 300,000 a month in rent, even 2% is KES 6,000 every month. Ask whether SMS is included and whether there is a free trial with your real tenants.

Where RumiaRent fits

RumiaRent is built around these points: tenants pay your own paybill, payments are matched and receipted automatically, reminders and arrears are handled, and statements and MRI figures are ready each month, for a flat monthly price with a 30-day free trial.