Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

LeaseForce is property management software provided by LeaseForce Systems Limited, Nairobi, Kenya (“LeaseForce”, “we”, “us”). This policy explains how we handle personal data when you visit our website, use the LeaseForce app, or are a tenant, owner or partner whose details are held in it.

We play two roles:

• Data controller for the details of our own customers and their staff (account holders), affiliates, and visitors to this website.
• Data processor for the information our customers put into LeaseForce about their tenants, owners, vendors and properties. The landlord or agency that uses LeaseForce decides why and how that data is used, and is the controller for it. We process it only on their instructions and to provide the service.

We follow the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019 and, where it applies, the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation.

2. What we collect

Account details. Name, email address, phone number, organisation name and details, role, and a securely hashed password. If you turn on two-factor authentication, the information needed to verify it.

Information you add to the app. Properties and units; tenants’, co-tenants’, owners’ and vendors’ names and contact details; leases, deposits and documents; invoices, receipts, payments and balances; meter readings; maintenance requests; messages you send through the app; and tax records.

Payment information. Payment confirmations and alerts sent to us by M-Pesa, banks and payment gateways you connect, and bank statements you upload, so that payments can be matched to the right tenant. These include amounts, dates, transaction codes, account references and the payer’s name and phone number; M-Pesa often hides part of the phone number or sends it in a scrambled (hashed) form, and we keep it in the form we receive it. When you pay us for a subscription, our payment providers process your card or mobile money details; we do not store full card numbers.

Tenant payments. When a tenant pays through LeaseForce (an M-Pesa prompt from the tenant portal, a personal payment link or our public payment page): the phone number they enter for the prompt, the amount, the result M-Pesa returns and the receipt number. When a tenant tells their landlord they have already paid: the transaction code or reference, amount, date and payment method they enter.

Tenant sign-in. When a tenant signs in with Google: their name, email address and profile picture from Google. When they sign in with their phone: their phone number and the one-time codes we text them. When a tenant asks for portal access, a request is recorded for their landlord to approve.

Usage and device information. Log data such as IP address, browser and device type, pages and actions, and timestamps, used to run, secure and improve the service. Actions in the app are recorded in an audit log.

Website information. If you allow it in our cookie settings, analytics and advertising measurement data. See our Cookie Policy.

Communications. What you send us by email or through support, and your contact preferences.

Affiliate information. For partners in our affiliate programme: contact details, referral activity, commissions and the payout details you provide.

3. How we use it, and why

• To provide the service (performing our contract with you): create invoices, match payments, send the notices and receipts you ask us to send, generate reports, and run the tenant and owner portals.
• To submit tax records you instruct us to, such as invoices sent to the Kenya Revenue Authority’s eTIMS system.
• To keep the service secure (our legitimate interests): detect abuse and fraud, enforce sending limits, investigate incidents and keep audit records.
• To support you and answer your questions.
• To bill you for your subscription and message credits, and to pay affiliates.
• To improve the product (legitimate interests), mostly using aggregated or de-identified usage information.
• To tell you about LeaseForce: service messages always; marketing only where the law allows, and you can opt out at any time.
• To meet legal obligations, such as tax and accounting record-keeping.

Where we rely on your consent, for example for analytics cookies, you can withdraw it at any time.

4. Payment pages, matching and what they show

We use payment information to record payments and match them to the right tenant and invoice for the landlord, and to send the receipts the landlord has chosen to send. Matching may compare a payer’s partly hidden or hashed phone number with the tenant’s phone number held by the landlord; we do not try to reveal hidden digits.

• Personal payment links show the tenant’s first name, unit, landlord and what is due, to anyone holding the link. Tenants should keep their link private; the landlord can replace it at any time, which disables the old one.
• The public payment page shows only the landlord, property, unit and a masked first name to someone who enters a tenant account number, never a balance, invoices, receipts or contact details. We limit how many numbers can be tried, to stop people guessing.
• We never ask for an M-Pesa PIN or one-time code outside our own sign-in screens. The PIN is entered only into the M-Pesa prompt on the payer’s phone and never reaches us.

5. Information kept on your device

If a tenant chooses “Remember on this device” on our payment page, their tenant account number and landlord’s name are saved in that browser, so they can pay again without typing them. Nothing else is saved, it never leaves the device except to look up the account when they pay, and it is removed when they choose “Not you?” or clear their browser data. The page can also be installed as an app on the device; installing it shares nothing extra with us.

6. AI features

Some plans include AI bank statement reading and an AI assistant. When you use them, the statement or the question and the records needed to answer it are sent to our AI model provider to produce the result. We send only what the feature needs, the assistant only takes actions after you confirm them, and we do not use your data to train AI models.

7. Who we share it with

We do not sell personal data. We share it only with:

• Service providers who process it for us under contract and only on our instructions: cloud hosting and file storage, email, SMS and WhatsApp delivery, payment processing, sign-in services, error monitoring and security, AI model providers for the AI features, and website analytics (only with your consent where required). We may change providers over time; a current list is available on request.
• Services you connect or instruct us to use, such as your mobile money, bank or payment gateway accounts (for example, we pass the phone number and amount to M-Pesa to send a payment prompt), and tax authority systems when you ask us to submit to them.
• Google, when someone chooses to sign in with Google: Google tells us who they are; we do not share app data with Google.
• Our marketplace, if you choose to publish vacant units to it: only the listings you select.
• Authorities, where the law requires it or to protect rights, property or safety.
• A buyer or successor, if our business is reorganised or sold, under the same protections.

8. International transfers

Some of our providers process data outside Kenya. When they do, we make sure there are appropriate safeguards, such as contractual protections, as the Kenya Data Protection Act and other applicable laws require.

9. How long we keep it

We keep account and customer data for as long as the account is open. Some records are removed sooner: for example, message delivery logs after 12 months, read in-app notifications after 90 days, and one-time sign-in codes within minutes. Payment records, payment prompts and “already paid” claims are financial records and are kept with the landlord’s accounts.

When an account is closed, we delete or anonymise its data within a reasonable period, except records we must keep longer by law, such as financial and tax records. Database backups are kept on a rolling basis and overwritten after a short period.

You can export your data at any time before closing your account.

10. How we protect it

• Each organisation’s data is separated by the database itself, not only by the application.
• Data is encrypted in transit, and sensitive fields are encrypted at rest.
• Access is denied by default and granted by role, and can be limited to specific properties.
• Short-lived sessions and two-factor authentication protect sign-ins.
• Actions are written to an audit log that cannot be edited afterwards.

11. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to:

• be told how your data is used, and to access a copy of it;
• have inaccurate data corrected, and to have data deleted;
• object to or restrict some uses, and to withdraw consent;
• receive your data in a portable format.

Account holders can update most details and export data from inside the app. For anything else, email legal@leaseforce.co.ke. We will reply within the time the law allows.

Tenants, owners and vendors: your landlord or agency controls your data in LeaseForce, so please contact them first. If you contact us, we will pass your request to them and help them respond.

You can also complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Kenya (odpc.go.ke), or to your local data protection authority.

12. Children

LeaseForce is for businesses and is not meant for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect children’s data for our own purposes.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product or the law changes. We will change the date at the top and, for significant changes, tell account holders by email or in the app.

14. Contact us

Questions or requests about privacy: legal@leaseforce.co.ke, or write to LeaseForce Systems Limited, Nairobi, Kenya.