Mobile
first design
Permission
scoped access
M-Pesa
paid via app
Audit
every action logged
Why it matters

The caretaker is the operation — treat the tooling accordingly

Most Kenyan rentals run on a caretaker. They collect cash payments, chase arrears, show vacant units, handle small repairs, and quietly know more about your tenants than you do. The problem is that the information sits in a notebook, on WhatsApp, or in their head — until they're sick, on leave, or replaced, and the property loses a month of operational memory.

Pangoni gives the caretaker a phone-first interface scoped to exactly what they need: who lives where, who has paid, what repairs are open. Every action they take is logged automatically, so the next caretaker can pick up without losing a beat.

Works on an entry-level Android

Designed for caretakers on basic phones with intermittent data. Fallback SMS workflows where needed.

Permissions scoped per caretaker

No view of financials or other properties. They see what they need to do their job — nothing more.

Every action logged

Receipts issued, repairs marked done, cash banked — with timestamp and GPS where relevant.

Caretaker home screen — Westlands court
12 units — 11 occupied
9 paid this month
2 arrears — tap to call
3 repairs open — 1 overdue
1 vacancy — viewing at 2pm
[ Issue receipt ]
[ Log repair ]
[ Mark vacancy ]
Daily workflows

Everything a caretaker actually does, on a phone

Built around the real shape of caretaker work in Kenya — not abstracted "property operations" no one in the field uses.

Cash receipts

Tenant pays cash, caretaker logs amount, tenant gets an SMS receipt instantly. The cash is queued for banking and reconciled when deposited.

Repair queue

Tenant raises an issue, caretaker sees it in priority order. Status, photos, and any spend logged from the phone.

Vacancy & viewings

Mark a unit vacant, schedule viewings, and update the marketplace listing — without a back-and-forth with the landlord.

Arrears follow-up

The tenants who haven't paid are pinned to the top of the caretaker's screen with a tap-to-call action and a payment link to share.

Utility readings

Monthly meter readings for water, electricity sub-meters, or shared bills — entered per unit in seconds, billed automatically.

Handover checklist

Move-in and move-out checklists with photos, signed from the tenant's phone — deposit disputes get a lot shorter.

Permissions

What the caretaker can — and cannot — see

Property managers should not be sharing the landlord's full financial view with a caretaker. Pangoni's caretaker role has a curated permission set by default, and you can tighten or loosen it per person.

Visible by default

Tenant names and unit numbers, rent status (paid/unpaid), open repairs, current vacancies, tenant contact, viewing schedule.

Hidden by default

Total rent collected, deposit balances, owner statements, KRA filings, lease documents, other properties.

Adjustable per caretaker

A senior caretaker on a 50-unit property may need rent-amount visibility for follow-up; a junior one may not. Toggle on or off per person.

Default caretaker permissions
Issue cash receipts
Log repairs & update status
Mark vacancies and schedule viewings
Enter utility readings
Sign move-in / move-out
See total income or P&L
Access lease documents
View deposit balances
See other properties
Paying your caretaker

M-Pesa payroll for your caretaker, tracked as an expense

Set the caretaker's salary on their profile and Pangoni pays them via M-Pesa B2C on the schedule you choose. The payment is recorded as a property expense automatically, so it lands in the owner's P&L and the KRA Monthly Rental Income summary without any bookkeeping from you.

For diaspora landlords this is the difference between "trusted caretaker" and "caretaker you have to wire money to every month from abroad." Read our diaspora landlords solution for the full picture.

Caretaker payroll — how it flows
Salary set on profile
Monthly or weekly. Optional bonuses for arrears recovery.
Payday triggers M-Pesa B2C
Disbursement initiated automatically. Caretaker gets SMS confirmation.
Recorded as property expense
Auto-categorised, dated, attached to the property. Tax-deductible against rental income.
Appears in owner P&L
Net rental income reflects the cost immediately — no end-of-month spreadsheet to update.

Tenant management

Tenant profiles the caretaker can view (with scoped permissions) for contact and rent status.

Maintenance alerts

Repair SLAs and escalation when the caretaker hasn't closed a ticket within the agreed window.

Online rent collection

The M-Pesa rails the caretaker uses for cash banking and that you use to pay them.

Frequently asked

Caretaker management FAQs

Any Android or iOS phone works. The app is built mobile-first and runs on entry-level Android phones with intermittent data. For caretakers without smartphones, SMS-based workflows are available — the caretaker confirms receipts and repair updates by replying to short codes.

By default, the caretaker sees tenants on their properties, rent status, open repairs, vacancies, and tenant contacts. They cannot see total rent income, deposit balances, lease documents, owner statements, or tenants on other properties. Permissions are role-based and editable per caretaker.

Yes. The caretaker selects the tenant, enters the cash amount, and Pangoni sends an SMS receipt to the tenant immediately. The cash payment is recorded against the right invoice and reconciled once the caretaker banks it via M-Pesa or to the landlord's account.

Tenants raise repairs from the portal or by SMS. Each lands in the caretaker's queue with priority and contact details. The caretaker updates status (acknowledged, in progress, completed) from the phone, attaches before/after photos, and logs any spend. SLA timers flag overdue repairs to you.

Yes. Salary is set on the caretaker's profile and paid via M-Pesa B2C on your schedule. The disbursement is auto-recorded as a property expense against the right property — tax-deductible against rental income and visible in the owner's P&L.

Deactivate the old caretaker, add the new one, and permissions transfer automatically. The audit trail of what the old caretaker did stays for accountability. The new caretaker gets a per-property handover checklist to tick off (meter readings, key inventory, tenant contacts) before going live.

Give your caretaker a phone, not a notebook

Stop running your rental on WhatsApp screenshots and paper receipts.

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