Guides for landlords · Soma kwa Kiswahili
Collecting rent on M-Pesa: Paybill, Till or Pochi la Biashara?
Updated 31 Oct 2026
Almost every tenant in Kenya pays rent on M-Pesa. How you receive it decides how easily you know who has paid, for which house. Here are the four ways landlords do it, from simplest to best.
1. Your personal number (Send Money)
Easy to start, but rent mixes with your personal money, tenants pay higher sending charges, and at the end of the month you're scrolling through messages to work out who paid. Fine for one or two rooms; painful beyond that.
2. Pochi la Biashara
A business "pocket" on your personal line: rent is kept apart from your own money, and you don't need a registered business. But payments only show the sender's name, so you still match them to houses by hand, and it can't be connected to software.
3. Lipa na M-Pesa Till (Buy Goods)
A till number tenants pay to with no account number. Money goes to a business wallet, and the till can be connected to software. You still match payments by the payer's name or phone number, which is mostly fine when tenants pay from their own phone.
4. Paybill (best for more than a few units)
Tenants enter an account number when they pay, such as their house number (A4). Each payment then says which house it's for, even when someone else pays for the tenant. A Paybill needs a business application to Safaricom (business documents and a bank account), and is the easiest to connect to rent software.
Know at once who has paid
A Paybill or Till can be connected to Safaricom's Daraja service. Each payment is then sent to your rent software the moment it's made, instead of you reading SMS. You can also send a tenant an M-Pesa prompt (STK push), where they just enter their PIN to pay the exact amount.
Tips
- Use the house number as the account number (Paybill), and print it in the tenancy agreement.
- Ask tenants to pay from the phone number you have for them, so payments match automatically.
- Send a receipt for every payment; it stops arguments about balances.
- Check Safaricom's current charges for your option: who pays the fee differs between them.
Rentipay connects your Paybill or Till (through Daraja), so each payment is matched to the right tenant by account number or phone and recorded the moment it arrives. Tenants get a receipt by SMS automatically, and you can send them an M-Pesa prompt from their page.
Try Rentipay freeThis guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Laws and KRA rules change: check with an advocate or tax adviser for your situation.