Renting safely
Most house hunting goes wrong in the same few ways. These are the habits that keep your money safe.
Never pay a deposit before you have seen the house
See the house. Meet the manager. Only then talk about money. Nobody who is genuine needs your deposit before you have stood in the room.
Rent Shopika never asks you for a deposit, and we take no viewing fee. If a page or a person on this platform asks you to send a deposit through us, it is not us. Report it.
Before the viewing
- Check the "Property verified" badge on the listing. It means Shopika has read the property's documents.
- Check the "Vacancy confirmed" date and time. A listing here shows only while the vacancy was confirmed in the last 7 days.
- Read the full cost to move in on the listing, so the figure at the gate is not a surprise.
- Book the viewing in the app. That is how you get the meeting place.
At the viewing
- Meet at the house itself, in daylight, and take somebody with you.
- Meet the manager who is listed, not a stranger sent to the gate.
- Ask to see the house you would actually take, not a similar one.
- Check water, the meter, the lock and the drainage while you are there.
- Do not hand over money at the gate to be shown a house.
When you pay
- Pay only to the account shown in the app. Rent goes straight into the landlord's own Paybill, Till or bank account.
- Be suspicious of a number sent to you in a chat, or an account that suddenly changed. Check the app.
- Use the M-Pesa prompt from your own tenant page when you can. The prompt is signed by Shopika, but the money goes to the landlord's account.
- Keep every M-Pesa message. That text, with its reference code, is your proof.
- Get your receipt in the app once the payment is confirmed, and keep it.
- Get your tenancy agreement in writing, signed by both of you.
Signs to walk away from
- Pressure: "three other people are paying today".
- A deposit asked for before a viewing, or a fee just to be shown the house.
- A price far below everything else in that estate.
- A person who will not meet you at the house.
- A payment account in a name nobody can explain.
- A request to pay somewhere other than the account in the app.
If something looks wrong
- Stop paying, and say nothing more about your M-Pesa PIN to anybody.
- Report the listing from its page. The report goes to Shopika, not to the landlord, and we can suspend a property while we look into it.
- Write to support@shopika.com or call or WhatsApp +254 712 095 031. Keep the M-Pesa messages and any screenshots.
- If money has already gone to a stranger, report it to the police and to Safaricom as well. Once money has left your phone, we cannot pull it back, because we never held it.