How to choose property management software in Nigeria

Most property software was built for a city where the power stays on, the post arrives, and tenants pay by direct debit without being asked. That is not Lagos. Before you pay for any tool, run it through six questions grounded in how your property actually runs. If it fails the first two, the rest does not matter.

1. Does the money ever touch the vendor?

Rent and service charge should land in your bank, or the landlord’s, through Paystack, never in the software company’s wallet. If a tool sits between your tenant and your account, you have taken on a risk you did not need. Ask plainly: where does the naira go at the moment of payment? With Jarakey the answer is your account, every time.

2. Do the visitor codes work when NEPA takes the network?

The gate is the one place that cannot wait for a good signal. If access codes only validate online, the first power cut turns your smart gate back into a paper book and an argument at 11pm. The codes have to work offline at the gate. Test it: put the guard’s phone in airplane mode and scan.

3. Can the gate man actually use it?

The person at the gate is not going to attend a training webinar. If the tool needs a manual, it will not survive contact with a real Nigerian estate. The test is simple. Hand it to the guard, the cleaner, and the oldest landlord you know. If all three can use it without you standing over them, it is built right.

4. Does it split rent from service charge automatically?

Rent for one flat goes to one landlord. Service charge for the whole block goes to the estate. If you have to sort that by hand every month, you have bought a spreadsheet with extra steps. You should be able to decide once, per unit, and let payment day handle the splitting.

5. What does it cost, in naira, all in?

• Watch for tools priced in dollars. Your rent is in naira; your software should be too.
• Ask what is included before the add-ons. Jarakey is 10,000 naira a month with three properties and two staff seats in the base.
• Extra properties are 9,000 naira a month, extra staff seats 2,500 naira. No setup fee, cancel anytime.

6. Does it earn its place with one Tuesday-morning job?

Ignore the feature list. Pick the one task that ruins your week, chasing rent, logging a repair, letting a visitor through, and see if the tool makes that single job disappear. If it does, the rest is bonus. If it does not, no dashboard full of charts will save it.