A tenant in Limuru, Kiambu County is accused of swindling a landlord for 4 years by paying Ksh700 monthly and editing the mobile money payment messages.
The accused is said to have paid Ksh700 to the bank then edited the bank statement to reflect like he had paid Ksh7,000 and finally forwarding the message to the owner with the same transactional code.
“He owes us 4-year rent arrears, 10 per cent defaulting fee plus damages totalling to Ksh400,000,” the landlord who spoke out on Wednesday told journalists.
Even more interesting in this particular case is the fact that the tenant served as a caretaker in the same building before quitting in 2019 prompting the landlord to demand monthly rent payment from him.
A tenant at the building highlighted that there is a likelihood that he had been doing that for a long time without being caught.
The accused's wife defended her husband claiming that there was a mutual agreement that their rent be waivered. However, the receipts of the transaction showed otherwise depicting altered bank statements.
“They agreed that he should not pay rent, I'm even surprised that they claim that he has rent arrears.”
However, as the case is said to be in the civil courts, a word of caution has been sent to caretakers and landlords over the authenticity of mobile money messages and bank statements sent to them as proof of rent payment.
This revelation highlights the challenges that landlords face at the hands of deceptive tenants who are ready to deceive them through mobile transactions.
Reports from the Central Bank of Kenya indicate that many Kenyans opt to pay via paybill rather than going to the bank or paying physically forcing landlords to accept this as a valid form of payment.
Mobile money payments have proven to be the most efficient and commonly used money payment method due to their instant nature.
Most landlords have opted to be presented with a physical receipt confirming their rent payments to try and curb such occurrences.
