“Transfer of 75,000 FCFA received from 6XX XX XX XX.” That is all the SMS says. No property, no month, no reason. With three tenants, you guess. With thirty, you lose an evening every month cross-checking messages.
In Cameroon, paying rent by Orange Money or MTN MoMo has become common. It is convenient for the tenant, and it leaves a trace for the landlord. But that trace still has to be readable. Here is how to collect rent by Mobile Money cleanly.
Why Mobile Money took over
The tenant no longer has to travel, or wait for the landlord to come by. The landlord no longer carries wads of cash, or chases tenants at the end of the month.
Above all, every transfer leaves a record with the operator. A cash payment without a receipt only exists in the memory of whoever received it. A Mobile Money transfer is dated and recorded.
So the problem is not Mobile Money. It is what happens once the money has arrived.
The five problems that keep coming back
The SMS does not say what it is for. An amount, a number, a time. Nothing about the property or the month. When two tenants pay the same amount on the same day, identifying them becomes guesswork.
Partial payments. The tenant sends 40,000 FCFA on the 3rd, then 35,000 on the 15th. Is that January rent in two parts, or the rest of December plus a deposit on January? Without a clear rule, everyone has their own version.
The wrong number. An old number of the landlord’s, the caretaker’s, a relative who “used to manage it”. The money leaves, but not to the right place, and it takes days to track it down.
The notebook that mixes everything. Some tenants pay cash, others by MoMo, others alternate. It all ends up written in a notebook, sometimes, when someone remembers. After a few months, nobody knows who is up to date.
The tenant’s proof. The tenant has a screenshot. But a transfer screenshot does not say which month was paid either. On the day of a disagreement, it settles nothing.
Good practice 1: one dedicated number, written in the lease
Choose a single number for receiving rent, ideally reserved for that purpose. Not your personal number where family transfers also land.
Write it in the lease agreement, with the account holder’s name and the expected payment method. If the number changes, inform every tenant in writing, and keep a record of that message.
A tenant who paid to the number stated in the lease paid to the right place. Our lease agreement template includes this clause.
Good practice 2: reference = unit + month
Ask every tenant to put the unit and the month as the transfer reason: for example “Studio B2 — January”. When a reason cannot be added, a WhatsApp message sent right after the transfer does the job.
It is a habit to set from the very first month. Once it is in place, it saves a considerable amount of time.
Good practice 3: a receipt for every payment
Every payment, even partial, should come with a receipt stating: the amount received, the date, the payment method, the period concerned and the remaining balance.
The receipt protects both sides. The tenant knows exactly where they stand. The landlord no longer argues about “what had already been paid”.
When the period is fully paid, issue the rent receipt proper. It is not the same document: a payment receipt records one payment, the rent receipt records that the rent is settled. See the rent receipt guide.
Good practice 4: reconcile payments with invoices
Once a week, or at least once a month, compare what was received with what was due, unit by unit.
- Every payment must be linked to a unit and a period.
- Every period must show as settled, partly paid or unpaid.
- A payment you cannot identify is dealt with immediately, by contacting the tenant, not three months later.
This reconciliation is what turns a pile of SMS into bookkeeping.
Good practice 5: cash too, in the same record
Mobile Money does not make cash disappear. The risk is running two systems: transfers in the phone, cash in a notebook.
Record every payment in the same place, whatever the method. And for cash, the receipt matters even more: it is the only trace that will exist.
Good practice 6: never impose Mobile Money
Some tenants prefer to pay cash. Others do not always have enough on their account at the right moment. Forcing Mobile Money on them creates needless friction, and delays.
Offer it as a convenience, not an obligation. The goal is rent that is paid and traced, not a single payment method.
How Bailor Pro handles it
With Bailor Pro, these good practices no longer depend on everyone’s discipline:
- the tenant pays by Orange Money or MTN MoMo from the Bailor app, and the payment is automatically recorded on their invoice: no more SMS to decode;
- cash payments are recorded by the landlord and confirmed with their secret code, in the same history as Mobile Money;
- a receipt goes out for every payment, even partial, and the official rent receipt as soon as the period is fully paid;
- rent can be paid in one go, in several instalments or in advance;
- WhatsApp reminders go out before the due date, then if payment is late.
The Bailor app is free for the tenant, who pays no fees: they pay the exact amount of their rent. For the landlord, there is no subscription: 1 % on cash collections, 3 % on Mobile Money, of which 2 % goes to the operator, with the Bailor commission capped per collection. Details are on the pricing page. Mobile Money payment is available in Cameroon only for now.
To compare the manual and the automatic method, with diagrams, see our rent collection page.
For every rule of renting out property, from the lease to the end of the tenancy, read the complete guide to rental management in Cameroon.