How HomeManager Automated M-Pesa Rent Collection for Kenya's Landlords

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A Kenyan property management platform called HomeManager has built an automated rent collection system using Safaricom's Daraja API to eliminate manual payment reconciliation. Previously, landlords with 50 or more tenants spent 4 to 8 hours monthly downloading M-Pesa statements and matching transactions to tenants line by line in spreadsheets. The system uses M-Pesa Paybill rather than Till Numbers, allowing tenants to enter their unit number as an account reference, which the platform uses to automatically match and reconcile each payment in real time. A Django backend receives instant payment notifications via callback from Safaricom, then validates the transaction, credits the tenant's account, and sends an SMS receipt automatically. The platform also includes fuzzy matching logic to handle common input errors in unit numbers and an STK Push feature that proactively prompts tenants to pay directly from their phones.

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