Becoming a landlord for the first time is exciting and, if you are honest, slightly overwhelming. There are practical systems to put in place, legal basics to understand, and decisions to make before a tenant ever sets foot in the unit. The landlords who have the smoothest first year are almost always the ones who set up the fundamentals before day one — not after the first problem lands.
This checklist covers the ten most important things to do before your first tenant moves in.
1. Set Up a Dedicated M-Pesa Collection Account
Do not use your personal M-Pesa number for rent collection. From the first payment, rent should go to an account that is separate from your personal transactions. This makes record-keeping straightforward, protects you from mixing personal and business cash flows, and is essential if you ever need to show a rent payment history to a bank or the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Your two realistic options are Pochi la Biashara (free, activates immediately from your M-Pesa menu, good for up to around 10 units) or a registered Paybill number (costs KES 5,000–20,000 to register through an aggregator, takes one to two weeks, the better long-term choice if you plan to grow). For a single unit or small portfolio starting out, Pochi la Biashara is the practical choice. Set it up before the first tenant moves in.
2. Draft a Written Lease Agreement
A handshake agreement may feel simpler, but it protects neither party. A written lease is the document you refer to when there is a dispute about the rent amount, the notice period, what happens to the deposit, or who pays for repairs.
At minimum, a Kenyan residential lease should include: - Full names of both parties and the property address - The monthly rent amount and due date - The deposit amount and the conditions for its return - The notice period required by either party to end the tenancy (typically one month) - What happens if rent is not paid on time - Who is responsible for which types of maintenance - Restrictions on subletting
You can draft a simple one-page agreement yourself or use a template from a Kenyan legal resource site. For anything beyond a basic residential tenancy, consult an advocate.
3. Do a Thorough Move-In Inspection with Photos
Before the tenant takes the keys, walk through the unit together and photograph everything: walls, floors, fixtures, appliances, windows, doors, taps, ceiling. Do this systematically, room by room.
Both parties should sign an inspection form confirming the condition of the unit at move-in. Include the date and keep copies.
This single step prevents the majority of move-out deposit disputes. When a tenant claims the bathroom wall was already cracked, or you claim they damaged the kitchen tiles, dated photos from the move-in inspection settle the argument quickly.
4. Set Up a Rent Tracking System Before Day One
The worst time to set up your record-keeping system is after payments start arriving. By that point you are already behind — you have a payment in your M-Pesa account with no corresponding record, and the habit of tracking carefully has not been established.
Set up your tracking system before the first payment. At minimum, you need a record that shows: the rent amount, the due date, when each payment was received, and the running balance. A simple spreadsheet structured as a running ledger (one row per transaction, not one row per month) works well for a small portfolio. For multiple units, KodiBase generates the ledger automatically as payments are recorded and keeps each tenant's balance current without manual updates.
The goal is that on any given day, you can answer the question "what does this tenant currently owe?" in under 30 seconds.
5. Give the Tenant Clear, Written Payment Instructions
Before or on move-in day, give every tenant a written note (or WhatsApp message) with the exact payment instructions:
- Your Pochi la Biashara or Paybill number
- The account reference they should use (usually their unit number or name)
- The exact monthly amount
- The due date
- What to do after paying (send you the confirmation code, confirm via WhatsApp)
Verbal instructions get misremembered. A written reference the tenant can check when they sit down to pay prevents errors that cost you both time — incorrect M-Pesa references, wrong amounts, payments sent to the wrong number.
6. Set a Rent Due Date and Late Payment Policy
Decide on a due date and stick to it consistently. The 1st of the month is common. Some landlords use the 5th to give tenants a short grace period after salary dates.
Whatever you choose, put it in the lease and communicate it clearly. Also decide — and document in the lease — what happens if rent is not paid on time. A common approach is a short grace period (3–5 days) before a late payment fee applies. Having a policy in writing means you apply it consistently rather than making an ad-hoc judgment each time.
7. Build a Maintenance Request Process
A maintenance request that arrives via WhatsApp at 7am and is not logged is a maintenance request that may never get resolved — and one you cannot prove you received if the tenant later complains.
Set up a simple process before the tenancy begins: a dedicated WhatsApp contact, a maintenance request form, or a note in the lease about how to report issues. Tell the tenant how to reach you for maintenance and what your typical response time is for different types of issues (urgent — burst pipe — same day; non-urgent — dripping tap — within a week).
Logging every request as a ticket, even in a basic spreadsheet, gives you a record of what was reported and when it was resolved. This protects you if a tenant later claims you ignored their requests.
8. Build a Maintenance Reserve Fund
Unexpected repair costs are inevitable. A burst pipe, a broken gate motor, a failed geyser element. Landlords who have no maintenance reserve experience each repair as a financial emergency. Landlords with a reserve treat them as normal operating costs.
A practical starting point: set aside KES 500–1,000 per unit per month into a separate savings account specifically for maintenance. For a single unit, that is a modest monthly commitment that builds into a useful buffer within a few months. For a multi-unit property, the same rate provides meaningful coverage for routine repairs.
Do this from the first month of rent income, not after the first emergency.
9. Keep Copies of All Documents
This sounds obvious. It is routinely not done.
Keep copies of: the signed lease agreement, the move-in inspection form and photos, all written payment instructions you gave the tenant, and any significant written communications (agreed payment plans, notice letters, maintenance requests).
Store these somewhere accessible — a folder in Google Drive, a dedicated WhatsApp chat you use to send yourself documents, a physical folder. The most common scenario where landlords find themselves without the documents they need is a deposit dispute months or years after the tenancy began. Having everything in one place takes minutes to maintain and can save significant money and stress.
10. Know the Basics of Tenant Rights in Kenya
You do not need a law degree, but you do need to understand the basic legal framework. Key points for residential landlords in Kenya:
**You cannot evict a tenant by force or lock them out.** Even if a tenant stops paying, you must follow a legal process to remove them. Changing locks, removing doors, or cutting utilities to force a tenant out is illegal and can expose you to claims.
**The Distress for Rent Act** allows you to seize a tenant's goods for unpaid rent, but this must be done through proper legal channels — typically via a licensed auctioneer.
**Notice periods** — a standard residential tenancy requires one month's notice from either party to end the tenancy, unless the lease specifies otherwise.
**Deposits** — there is no fixed legal cap on deposits in Kenya, but standard practice is one to two months' rent. Deductions must be justified — wear and tear is the landlord's cost; damage beyond normal use can be charged against the deposit.
Understanding these basics before problems arise means you are less likely to take an action that complicates the situation, and more likely to handle disputes in a way that protects you legally.
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Setting up these ten things before your first tenant moves in takes a few hours. The systems you build in that time are the ones you will use for every tenancy after this one. Landlords who struggle with problem tenants, disputed deposits, and chaotic rent collection are almost always missing one or more of these foundations. The landlords who manage cleanly built them from the start.