A flat behind the main house
The accidental landlord
You built or inherited one unit and let it out. It is not a business, and you would still rather it ran like one.
Notes for Zambian landlords
No. 13 · Renting out one or two places
Updated September 2026
No. 13 · Individual landlords
Renting out one place, properly
One flat in Chelston. One tenant. It sounds like the easy case, and it is the case most often run on memory: the rent in a WhatsApp thread, the lease in a drawer, the plumber’s number on a scrap of paper. Nothing goes wrong until the month it does — a payment neither of you can find, a lease that expired without anyone noticing, a deposit argued over with no photographs. Tezeka is the whole cycle for one unit, from the first one.
In short
- A lease drafted, signed on a phone and kept
- Rent reminders before the due date and after it
- MoMo, Airtel Money, bank or cash proof, confirmed by you
- A receipt the tenant can keep, sent on WhatsApp
02 · Side by side
One flat, two ways
On your phone today
- Rent proof somewhere in a WhatsApp thread
- The lease in a drawer, if it was ever signed
- You remember to chase, or you do not
- The deposit argued over from memory
In Tezeka
- Every payment filed against the month it pays for
- The lease signed, sealed and findable
- Reminders sent without you drafting them
- Dated photos from the day they moved in
Not a cut-down version of the product
A landlord with one unit does not need a simpler product. They need the same one, scaled to one tenancy. The lease is drafted for the kind of property it is, signed on the tenant’s phone, and carries a QR record and an exact-file hash, so it can be checked later by anybody holding the PDF.
Rent reminders go out three days before the due date and again once it passes, without you writing them. That pair matters more here than anywhere else: with one tenant, chasing rent is not a workflow problem, it is an awkward conversation you would rather not have.
04 · How it works
A year in one flat
Nothing here is dramatic. That is rather the point.
- 1 Mar
The lease is drafted and signed on the tenant’s phone, before they move in.
- 3 Mar
Move-in photos are taken and dated against the tenancy.
- 28 Mar
A reminder goes out three days before the rent is due.
- 2 Apr
A MoMo screenshot arrives. You confirm it, and a receipt goes back.
- 15 Jul
The geyser goes. The repair and its cost sit on the property.
- 1 Jan
The lease expiry is flagged sixty days out, not on the day.
The money stays between you and your tenant
Tezeka does not collect your rent and never holds it. Your tenant pays you the way they already do — MoMo, Airtel Money, a bank transfer or cash — and sends the proof. Tezeka reads it, matches it to the month it pays for, and asks you to confirm.
Your tenant does not need an account, a download or a password. They send proof the way they always have, and they can ask for their balance, their receipt or their lease over WhatsApp.
The record you only need once
Condition photos taken at move in are dated and kept with the tenancy. Two years later, when a deposit is disputed, that is the difference between a negotiation and an argument.
The same is true of the lease expiry nobody diarised, the repair whose cost you cannot remember, and the payment a tenant insists was made. Each one is rare. Each one is expensive. All of them are a record you either kept or did not.
07 · Who this is for
Three landlords we had in mind
A second property across town
Renting out while renting yourself
You do not live at the property and cannot drop in. Everything has to work at a distance, on a phone.
The first of several
Building up slowly
One unit now, another when the money allows. The record you keep on the first is the one the second inherits.
08 · What changes
What you stop doing by hand
- i
Scrolling WhatsApp for a payment screenshot
- ii
Writing the same awkward reminder every month
- iii
Looking for the lease when something is disputed
- iv
Settling a deposit from memory
No. 0001
- Date
- Today
- Received from
- You
- For
- 1 unit
- Amount
- K99 a month
Counterfoil. Keep for your records
Start here
Start with the property you have
Solo is K99 a month for 1 unit. Your tenants keep paying you directly by MoMo, Airtel Money or bank transfer. Tezeka never touches your rent.
Is there a free plan?
No. The entry plan is Solo, at K99 a month for one unit, and it includes the lease generator, mobile signing, both rent reminders, payment confirmation, receipts, maintenance logging and the vendor network. There is no cut-down tier that withholds the basics.
Does my tenant need to install anything?
No. Tenants never need a Tezeka account. They sign the lease from a link, send payment proof the way they already do, and can ask for a receipt, a balance or their lease over WhatsApp.
Does Tezeka collect the rent?
No, and it never holds your money. Your tenant pays you directly. Tezeka verifies the evidence and keeps the record.
What happens when I add a second unit?
You move up a plan when you run out of units, and nothing you have already recorded changes. Plans are priced by the units you rent, not by the property they sit in.
Can I get my data out?
Yes, on every plan, including the entry one. Full payment history export is not held back for larger plans.