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This walkthrough takes you from first sign-in to a fully billed, paid and posted lease. It is the shortest path that touches every core concept — property, tenancy, billing, receipting and accounting.

1. Sign in

1

Open the app

Go to app.nyumbazetu.com (or your organisation’s white-label address).
2

Enter your credentials

Sign in with your work email and password. Operator accounts are created by an administrator — there is no self-service sign-up.
3

Confirm your branch

The top of the sidebar shows the branch you are working in. Almost every list, total and report on the platform is scoped to it. Switch branch before you start work, not halfway through.
If you land on an Account disabled page, your user exists but has been deactivated — contact your administrator. If a menu item is missing entirely, you do not have the permission for it; see Roles and permissions.

2. Set up the property

1

Create a block

Admin → Blocks → Add. A block is the building or estate. Give it a name, address and the branch it belongs to.
2

Add units

Admin → Units → Add. Each unit is a billable place: number/name, block, unit type, size, occupancy type, and (optionally) an owner. See Units.
3

Check the chart of accounts and service types

Finance → Accounting → Chart of Accounts. Every billable thing (rent, water, service charge, deposit, late fee) is a service type mapped to an income account. Billing cannot post correctly until this mapping exists. See Chart of accounts.

3. Onboard the resident and lease

1

Create the resident

Residents → Add. Capture name, phone, email and ID. The phone number is what SMS reminders and payment matching use, so get it right. See Residents.
2

Create the lease

Leases → Add. Choose the unit and the resident, set start/end dates, rent, billing day, and the deposit. See Managing leases.
3

Add recurring charges

On the lease, add the charges that repeat every cycle — rent, service charge, garbage, parking. These are what the recurring-invoice run bills. See Recurring invoices.
4

Record the deposit

Capture the security deposit so it is tracked separately from rent and can be refunded or offset at exit. See Security deposits.

4. Bill and collect

1

Generate the invoice

Either run the recurring-invoice cycle, or create a one-off invoice from Finance → Receivables → Invoices → Add. Tax is applied exclusive of the line amount across the platform. See Invoices.
2

Send it

Use the invoice’s send action to deliver by email and/or SMS. Delivery status is tracked in Communications.
3

Receive the payment

Finance → Receivables → Payments (or Receive Pay) to capture an M-Pesa, bank or cash receipt. See Receiving payments.
4

Allocate it

Finance → Receivables → Allocations. Allocation is what turns received cash into a settled invoice. Preview first, then execute — every run is logged and reversible. See Allocations.

5. Confirm the accounting

1

Check the ledger

Finance → Accounting → Statements → Trial Balance. The invoice should appear as income and receivable; the payment as bank/cash and a reduction of receivable.
2

Drill down

From any statement line you can drill into the journal lines that produced it, and from there to the source invoice or payment. See Financial statements.
3

Close the period

At month end, close the accounting period so postings can no longer change history. See Accounting periods.

What to explore next

Navigating the app

Grids, filters, saved views, calendars, and dark mode.

Collections

Turn the arrears report into a worked case queue.

Bulk upload

Import units, leases, residents, invoices and payments from spreadsheets.

Reports

The full report catalogue and how each one is built.