How it works — for owners

Go to nyumbadirect.tz/owner/signup. You'll need:

• Your full name
• Your Tanzanian phone number (for verification and tenant contact)
• An email address (optional)

We'll send you a one-time code via SMS to verify your phone. Enter the code and you're in.

You'll then be asked to sign our No-Middleman Covenant — a short commitment to dealing directly with tenants. This is the foundation of how Nyumba Direct works.

Our team reviews every new owner account. This usually takes 24-48 hours during business days. We may contact you for additional information — for example, proof that you own the properties you'll list.

You'll get an SMS when you're approved. After approval, you can create your first listing.

From your owner dashboard, click New listing. The form walks you through:

• Title and description — what's the property and what makes it appealing?
• Location — pick your region and district. Add a ward name and any directions or landmarks that help tenants find it. Optionally set a GPS pin for the map.
• Rooms and features — bedrooms, bathrooms, parking, size, furnishing, amenities.
• Price — rent amount, deposit, cycle (monthly/quarterly/etc.). Indicate if the price is negotiable.
• Photos — at least 3 are required: one exterior, one interior, one bedroom. Take them yourself, with your phone — bright, clear, honest. Photos are the single biggest factor in getting inquiries.

Once you submit, your first listing goes to our team for review. We're looking for:

• Photos that actually show the property
• A description that matches what's in the photos
• No third-party broker contacts
• No misleading claims about location or amenities

You'll get an SMS when your listing is approved (usually within 24 hours during business days) or if it needs changes.

Once your first listing is approved, future listings auto-publish the moment you submit them — no waiting for review. This is our way of saying we trust you.

We still monitor all listings via random spot-checks and tenant flags. If a listing later violates our policies, we may pause or remove it (see "What gets a listing paused or removed" below).

When a tenant clicks "Contact owner" on your listing, you receive:

• An SMS with the tenant's name and phone number
• An in-app notification in your owner dashboard under "Inquiries"

From that point on, you and the tenant deal with each other directly. Call them, message them, arrange a viewing, negotiate, sign a lease. Nyumba Direct steps out of the way.

From your owner dashboard you can:

• Edit — change price, description, photos, anything
• Pause — hide the listing from tenants temporarily (e.g. while you're considering offers). You can resume any time.
• Delete — remove it permanently when the property is rented
• View stats — see how many tenants have viewed your listing

Nothing. Nyumba Direct is currently free for owners. No listing fees, no commissions, no monthly subscription. You keep 100% of what you negotiate with tenants.

We may introduce optional paid features (boosted visibility, premium analytics) in the future as we grow, but core listing and tenant contact will always have a free option. Any future pricing changes will be announced at least 30 days before they take effect.

In exchange for free direct access to tenants, we ask owners to commit to a few simple things:

• List only properties you own or legitimately manage. Not someone else's, not borrowed photos of a property you don't actually have.
• Deal directly with tenants who inquire. No handing them off to a broker who'll charge a fee. The person they see on the listing is the person they should talk to.
• Don't charge tenants any fee beyond rent and deposit. No "introduction fee", no "key money" to a third party, no commission. The lease price is the price.
• Be honest in your listing. If the property has limitations (no water during peak hours, noisy street, etc.), tenants will find out anyway. Honesty builds your reputation.

Our moderators may pause or remove a listing if:

• A tenant flags it and the flag is upheld
• Photos clearly don't match the property
• A broker has been involved without disclosure
• The owner is unresponsive to multiple legitimate inquiries
• The owner asks tenants for off-platform payments before viewing
• The property is double-listed by other middlemen on competing sites

If your listing is paused, you'll receive an SMS explaining why. You can fix the issue and submit an appeal from the listing's edit page. We review appeals usually within 24 hours.

Repeated violations of our policies result in strikes on your account. After multiple strikes, your account may be suspended (all listings paused) or banned (permanent removal from the platform).

We don't issue strikes for honest mistakes. Typos, slightly outdated photos, and forgetting to update a price get a friendly nudge, not a strike. Strikes are for behavior that hurts tenants: fake listings, fraud, broker behavior, dishonest claims about properties.

If you're a legitimate real estate agent, you can register as an agent (not as an owner). Agents can list properties on behalf of owners they've formally partnered with — both parties confirm the relationship within the platform.

We require this transparency because tenants have a right to know who they're really dealing with. Hidden brokerage is not allowed; disclosed agency is.

Create your owner account →