Guides
Step-by-step guides to help you get the most out of Green Hut RMS.
Account & billing
Your GreenHut invoice
Settings → Billing shows your plan, your rate, and every invoice from GreenHut. Each month's invoice is a percentage of the rent you collected that month, raised on the 1st and payable by card or M-Pesa. Referral credit (Settings → Referral) is taken off your next invoice automatically.
Referring another landlord
Settings → Referral shows your code and a link to share. When a landlord signs up with it and pays their first GreenHut invoice, you get the reward shown on that page, usually account credit taken off your next invoice.
Communication
Connecting an SMS provider
Settings → Communication → SMS provider → Connect. • Wakali SMS: paste your API key. GreenHut checks it and lists your approved sender IDs. Top up your Wakali SMS balance from inside GreenHut. • TalkSasa: paste your API token and enter the sender ID approved on your account. Use "Send test SMS" to check it works. Your balance shows on the dashboard and the Communication page and updates after each send.
Messaging residents
Communication → New message. Choose who it's for (everyone, one property, residents behind on rent, or residents you pick), choose SMS, email or both, then write the message or start from a template. Insert details like the resident's first name or balance and each resident gets their own version. Everything sent shows in Communication → History with whether it went through.
Getting started
Your first steps
1. Add your payment details in Settings → Payment, so residents know where to pay. 2. Add a property in Properties → Add property, with its units. 3. Add residents to their units in Tenants → Add tenant. Each one gets a welcome message with their portal login. 4. Connect an SMS provider in Settings → Communication if you want reminders by SMS as well as email. 5. Check Settings → Rent Settings: the day rent is due, the grace period and late fees. From then on rent invoices are created each month, residents are reminded before and after the due date, and payments show up under Finance.
Your workspace and web address
Your workspace has its own web address on greenhutrms.com, shown in Settings → General. Share it with your team. Residents sign in to their own portal from the same address. You can also connect your own domain in Settings → General → Custom domains.
Properties & units
Adding a property and its units
1. Go to Properties → Add property. 2. Enter the name, type, street address and city. 3. Under Units, click Add units: • Several units: choose how many and how to name them (prefix and starting number), or, with "Organise by floor" on, which floors and how many units per floor. • One unit: type its name, and its floor if you use floors. Tick "Add another after this" to add a few in a row. 4. Set the type, rent and deposit. Deposit left blank means the same as one month's rent. 5. Adjust any unit in the list, then Save property. Unit types (Bedsitter, 1 Bedroom, Shop…) are shared across your properties. Add a new one from the Add units window or Properties → Unit types.
Rent & payments
Setting up how residents pay you
Go to Settings → Payment → Add payment method and choose M-Pesa Paybill, M-Pesa Till, a bank account, or a bank's Paybill. The money always goes straight to you. Test a new payment method before residents use it: send a small payment to it and check it arrives. You can have several methods on at once, and turn one off without deleting it.
Confirming reported payments
When a resident pays manually and reports their M-Pesa or bank reference, it appears under Finance → Payment reports. Check the reference against your M-Pesa or bank statement, then confirm it. The invoice is marked paid and the resident gets a receipt. Payments made with "Pay now" (Daraja) are confirmed automatically.
Reports & tax
Reports
Reports gives you: • Rent roll: every occupied unit for a month, with what was charged, collected and still owed. • Income statement: expected against collected income by property for any date range. • Maintenance costs: completed repairs and their cost by property. Each report can be downloaded as CSV or PDF. If you use KRA eTIMS (Settings → Tax), the Monthly Rental Income and KRA annual summary reports appear here too.
Residents & leases
Adding a resident
Go to Tenants → Add tenant, or open a vacant unit and add the resident there. Enter their details, the unit, move-in date and deposit. You can send a welcome email with their portal login, and a welcome SMS if an SMS provider is connected. They use the portal to see invoices, pay, report payments and raise maintenance requests.
Creating a lease
Open the resident and, under Lease information, click "Create a lease". Choose the start date and length (6 months, 1 year or 2 years, or set your own end date), the rent, the deposit and how often rent is paid, then Create lease. GreenHut uses the lease to bill rent and warns you before it ends.
Moving a resident out
Open the resident and click Move out. Choose the move-out date and the reason. The window shows what happens: the lease ends, the unit becomes available and any deposits are listed for refund. If rent is still owed you're shown the amount and asked to confirm; see "When is a former resident flagged?". Afterwards, download the move-out certificate from the resident's page to give to them.