Running a 12-flat property from your phone

Most Nigerian property platforms are built for big estates and assume you have a back office. A lot of properties in Lagos are owned by one person who has a day job. That person also runs twelve flats, knows every tenant by name, and does the rent roll on a Sunday evening with a glass of zobo. Jarakey was built so that person does not need a back office.

What a small landlord actually needs

• A way to collect rent that does not require everyone using the same bank.
• A way to keep maintenance from becoming a phone-tag situation.
• A way to send the gate man a code without owning a separate device for it.
• A way to remember who paid for what, last August.

How a 12-flat property gets set up

Add the property. Add the twelve units, or import them from a CSV in one go. Invite the tenants. Pick the bill recipient (you, in your subaccount, for a property like this). Turn on rent reminders. Ship the property’s WhatsApp group quietly to read-only. By next Sunday, the rent is in your account before you sit down with the zobo.

Why the price works for a property this size

Property Manager is ₦10,000 a month, all in. Two staff seats included if you want a co-manager or a security person on the system. Twelve flats on a 5% commission point would cost a month’s rent within a year. The platform pays for itself before the second renewal cycle.