Several tenants, several leaks
Landlords juggling repairs at once
You are fielding repair calls from more than one property and losing track of which ones are actually fixed.
Notes for Zambian landlords
No. 05 · Repairs and vendors
Updated September 2026
No. 05 · Maintenance
Keep track of every repair, from report to cost
A repair usually arrives as a phone call or a WhatsApp voice note at an awkward hour, gets an “I’ll sort it”, and then happens or does not, with no record either way. When you want to know what a property cost to run this year, that gap is where the numbers go missing.
In short
- A WhatsApp report becomes a tracked repair on the unit
- Use your own plumber, or find one in the vendor network
- The cost is recorded against the property
- The tenant is told when it is fixed
02 · Side by side
The same leak, two ways
On the phone
- A voice note at 21:47 you mean to deal with tomorrow
- The plumber’s number on a sticky note
- The cost remembered roughly, if at all
- The tenant chasing you for news
In Tezeka
- The report is logged against Flat 3 with its photo
- The job is assigned to a named vendor
- The cost is kept against the property
- The tenant hears when it is done
A verbal fix is not a record
“I’ll get someone to look at it” is not something you can produce later: not to a tenant asking why it has taken three weeks, not to yourself when you are deciding whether a unit’s running costs justify a rent review, and not when a maintenance cost needs a paper trail at tax time.
It gets worse with more than one or two properties. You are fielding several of these at once, from different people on different threads, and the ones that get forgotten are usually the ones never written down anywhere.
04 · How it works
A leaking geyser in Woodlands
The report starts the way it already does, with a message from the tenant.
- 2 Oct, 21:47
The tenant reports the leak on WhatsApp, with a photo of the geyser.
- 3 Oct, 08:10
It is logged against Flat 3 with the time and the photo.
- 3 Oct, 09:00
You assign Lusaka Pipe Works, from your own list or the vendor network.
- 4 Oct
The job is done and the cost recorded: K850, against the property.
- 4 Oct
The tenant is told it is fixed without you sending the message.
Coordination, not a maintenance company
Tezeka logs the issue, tracks who is doing the work and records the cost. It does not employ the vendors, send its own contractors or take a cut of what you pay them. You keep using whoever you already trust, or find someone in the vendor network when you do not have a name for the job. The record is the product, not the repair.
06 · Where this lives in Tezeka
Plate I
- 1
The repair cost, recorded against the property
- 2
The vendor assigned to the job
- 3
A tenant update, ready to send
07 · Who this is for
Three landlords we had in mind
An agent handling repairs
Owners with an agent on the ground
You see what has been reported and fixed without checking every call your agent makes.
Living in Dubai, renting in Libala
Owners approving costs from abroad
A repair with a photo and a cost is something you can approve from anywhere, instead of trusting a description on the phone.
08 · What changes
What you stop doing by hand
- i
Losing a repair between a call and a fix
- ii
Guessing what a property cost to run
- iii
Answering the tenant’s “any news?” messages
- iv
Arguing about how long a fix took
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.
Does Tezeka hire or manage the people doing the work?
No. Tezeka coordinates and records: it logs the repair, tracks the vendor and records the cost. It does not act as the contractor and takes no cut of what you pay a vendor.
Can I use my own plumber or electrician?
Yes. Add any vendor you already work with, alongside anyone else you choose to bring in.
Do repair costs reduce my ZRA rental tax?
No. Residential rental tax in Zambia is charged on gross rent, so repairs do not reduce it. Tezeka still records every cost against the property, so your profit figures and your own accounts are right.
Does the tenant see what the repair cost?
No. Costs are visible to the landlord and any assigned agent by default. The tenant sees the status of their report.
Is this for emergencies?
No. For anything urgent or unsafe, call the vendor straight away. Tezeka is for tracking and coordinating the work, not for emergency response.
Who can log a repair?
The tenant reporting it, or the landlord or agent logging it directly when it was reported another way, such as a phone call.