Managing caretakers: give them the tools without giving away your finances

A good caretaker is the landlord's eyes on the ground: they know which tap is leaking, who moved out quietly and which meter was read wrong. The problem is that most landlords either keep caretakers in the dark or hand them everything, including the money.

What a caretaker needs to see

• The units and tenants in the buildings they look after, with phone numbers.
• Repair requests from tenants, so they can act and update the status.
• Water meter readings to record each month.
• Which tenants are behind on rent, so they can follow up politely on site.

What a caretaker should not see

• Your total collections and bank or M-Pesa balances.
• Payment recording and reversals.
• Your Paybill keys, invoices settings and reports.
• Buildings they do not manage.

Stop accepting rent through the caretaker

Cash handed to a caretaker is the most common source of missing rent and disputes. Ask tenants to pay to your Paybill instead, so every shilling is recorded against the tenant and receipted automatically. If cash is unavoidable, record it the same day with a receipt number.

Repairs with a paper trail

When tenants raise repair requests in a system rather than by phone, nothing is forgotten. Each request has a priority, a photo, comments from the caretaker and a status (open, in progress, resolved). You can see what is outstanding without calling anyone.