Registering a Tenant & Posting a Rent Request
Who this is for: Welile Field Agents onboarding a tenant.
What you will get from it: a submitted Rent Request that starts a new Rent Plan, with the details right the first time so it is not rejected.
Registering the tenant and posting the request happen together in one wizard of five steps.
Before you open the form
Walking to a property and finding you are missing one of these wastes a trip.
- Today's collections are far enough along. New registrations are blocked until you have collected part of today's expected amount — see the daily collection rule.
- You have portfolio headroom. There is a ceiling on how much can be out with your tenants at once.
- The tenant is with you. Their photo is taken live during the form.
- You have the tenant's details: full legal name (at least two names), a valid Ugandan phone number, and their National ID number.
- You have the landlord's details: their profile, the Mobile Money number the rent will be paid to, and the rent amount they actually charge.
- You are at the property. The location is pinned from where you stand.
Step 1: Rent terms
Tap Add Tenant on the priority grid, or from the Tenants tab.
- Monthly rent. Enter exactly what the landlord charges.
- How the tenant earns. Daily income (market vendor, boda rider, salon) or a weekly/monthly salary (teacher, civil servant, employee). This shapes the repayment schedule.
- Plan length. 30, 60, 90 or 120 days.
The app then shows the cost breakdown: the registration fee, the access fee, the repayment amount the tenant must pay each time, and the total repayment for the plan. What each of those figures means is explained in how your rent repayment is calculated — read it before you explain a plan to a tenant, because the total repayment is not the rent.
Read the daily repayment out to the tenant and make sure they agree it is affordable before you go further. A tenant who cannot meet the daily amount becomes your arrears problem within a fortnight.
Step 2: Tenant details and identity
- Legal name — at least two names, matching their national documents.
- Phone number — a valid Ugandan number. The app checks the format and whether the person is already registered.
- National ID number — the 14-character NIN. If that NIN already belongs to another account, see National ID verification — do not enter somebody else's number to get past the step.
- Photo — take a live passport-style photo. Before the form lets you continue, the app checks it for one clear face, enough light, a head-on pose and nothing covering the face. A poor photo is one of the commonest reasons a request is rejected, so retake it if it is dark or blurred — see taking a tenant photo and when the photo check fails.
- Preferred language — for their automated SMS messages.
- No smartphone? Tick the box so the tenant is contacted by SMS only.
Step 3: Property and location
- Link the house. Pick from properties already listed for that landlord, or create the property record here. If you listed the house already, link it rather than typing it again — see listing a house.
- House category. Residential (single room, double room, bedsitter, one to three bedrooms) or commercial (lock-up shop, market stall, kiosk or container, salon or workshop, office, warehouse).
- Village. Search and pick it; the district and region follow automatically.
- Pin the location. Stand outside the unit, tap to pin, and confirm the tick that the pin sits on the actual house.
The pin matters later: the landlord payout is checked against it, so a careless pin creates a problem for you at payout time. See pay a landlord.
Step 4: Landlord and LC1 Chairperson
- Landlord. Search by name or phone. If they are new, enter their full legal name, phone number and the name their Mobile Money is registered in. If the landlord has no smartphone, a caretaker can be designated — you, or another person.
- LC1 Chairperson. Search for the village chairperson and link them with one tap, or register them with their name, phone and village.
- Consent. Confirm the guarantor or next-of-kin consent.
Both the landlord and the LC1 Chairperson are phoned during review, so their numbers must be correct and reachable.
Step 5: Review and submit
- Read the summary card against reality: tenant name and phone, the landlord's payout number, monthly rent, the daily repayment, and the pinned location.
- Check the capacity banner — it confirms your collection rating and remaining headroom.
- Tap Submit Rent Request.
The tenant and landlord both receive an SMS confirming the submission.
What happens after you submit
Your request now goes through a sequence of reviews, verification calls, approval, funding and the landlord payment. Follow it in your submissions on the Tenants tab.
In short:
- Waiting for review — Welile telephones the tenant and the landlord separately. Make sure both are reachable and expecting the call. This is where you have the most influence.
- Approved — the checks are cleared. Nothing to do but wait for funding.
- Funded — the rent is in your landlord float. Go and pay the landlord.
- Repaying — the tenant's schedule has started. Collect.
- Completed — the balance has reached zero. Offer a renewal.
- Rejected — read the note; it names what was wrong.
The full sequence, with what happens at each step and what the verification calls actually ask, is in following a Rent Request.
Submitting is not approval, and approval is not payment. Do not tell the tenant their rent is sorted until the landlord has actually been paid.
Why requests get rejected
The common reasons are avoidable: an unclear identity photo, a phone number that does not reach the person, a rent figure the landlord does not recognise, or a landlord who cannot be verified.
Each rejection carries a note naming the problem, and you can correct that one thing and resubmit — see when a Rent Request is rejected.
Accuracy rules
Never intentionally:
- post a rent request for someone who is not the tenant;
- create a landlord or a property that does not exist;
- enter a rent higher than the landlord actually charges;
- duplicate a request without a real reason;
- create activity to lift your own numbers.
Related articles
- Following a Rent Request
- When a Rent Request is rejected
- How your rent repayment is calculated — understand your rent, fees and total repayment.
- The daily collection rule
- Renewing a tenant
- Listing a house
- Rent Collection
- Tenant Help — what your tenant reads, including how rent plans work and how to repay.
Still need help?
Contact Welile Support on WhatsApp at +256 777 607640, call +256 748 747134, or email info@welile.com.
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