Collect Rent Online in Uganda With Pesapal or Flutterwave

Does Land & Property hold my rent?

No. On this platform the landlord opens and keeps their own Pesapal or Flutterwave merchant account. The tenant pays that account, the provider takes its fee, and the balance is settled to the landlord's bank account. We never receive the rent, never hold it and never pay it out. We do not run a pooled wallet.

This matters because moving other people's money is the job of a licensed payment provider. WeeTracker reported in August 2024 that Flutterwave was securing a Payment Systems Operator licence from the Bank of Uganda, and Pesapal's Uganda site says it is regulated by the Bank of Uganda. Those are the parties who carry the licence. Land & Property is a listings platform, so the safest design is that we stay out of the money. If you ever see a message asking a tenant to send rent to a personal number "for Land & Property", it is not from us. Report it through our contact page.

What do I need to open a Pesapal or Flutterwave account in Uganda?

Neither provider publishes a full, Uganda-specific checklist that we could open, so ask them before you start. These are the facts we found as of November 2026:

• Pesapal. You register at its business portal with a business name, email address and password, click the activation link, set up your account details and withdrawal details, test, and then sign a contract and give business information for settlement. Its general account guide lists documents by business type, including a copy of business registration, a national ID or passport and a tax certificate for a sole proprietor, and a certificate of incorporation, directors' IDs and a tax certificate for a company. That guide mentions Kenyan tax documents, so it is not a Ugandan list.
• Through a bank. The dfcu Bank and Pesapal merchant-acquiring page lists, for a sole proprietorship, a certificate of business registration, the director's URA taxpayer number certificate and national ID, and a cancelled cheque or bank letter. For a limited company it adds the certificate of incorporation, company form and directors' details.
• Flutterwave. Its Uganda pages describe the payment methods and prices. We found no Uganda onboarding checklist, so ask its Uganda sales team.

The practical answer to "do I need to register a business" is that a sole proprietor should expect to show a business registration certificate. URA's landlord page says a company landlord registers with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, every landlord registers with URA for taxes, and an individual in business needs a certificate of registration. Ask the provider whether an individual landlord with no business registration can be accepted.

Which payment methods work, and who pays the fees?

Tenants in Uganda mostly pay rent by mobile money, then by bank transfer and card. Flutterwave's Uganda developer page lists MTN and Airtel mobile money in UGX. Pesapal's Uganda site lists MTN MoMo, Airtel Money, Visa and Mastercard. Fees below are from Flutterwave's published Uganda price page, read in November 2026. Pesapal does not publish a Uganda rate card that we could open, so ask for a quote.

The page says prices exclude VAT and other local taxes. On UGX 1,000,000 of rent paid by mobile money, 3% is UGX 30,000 before VAT. Who carries that cost is for you to decide, but write it in the agreement. Under section 22(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 2022 rent is set by mutual agreement, so a fee added to the agreed rent should be agreed in writing too. A landlord who absorbs the fee should price it into the rent.

Is an online payment a valid rent receipt?

Treat the provider's confirmation as proof of payment and still issue your own receipt. Section 25 of the Act says a landlord who receives rent must give a written receipt, immediately where the payment is made in person, or within five working days where the payment is not made in person and the tenant asks for a receipt when paying. The receipt must show, among other things, the amount and the period for which rent is paid, and the landlord must keep a record of all receipts (section 25(2) and (3)). A landlord of business premises in a city or municipality must also give the tenant a bank account number for rent payments (section 21(4)).

A simple routine: export the provider statement every month, number the receipts, and keep them with the signed agreement. Our guide Rent Receipts and Records: What Tenants Should Keep lists what a tenant should hold on their side.

What records does URA expect from a landlord?

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) says rental income returns are filed like other income tax returns and tax is due on the return date. Its 2022 guidance says an individual pays 12% on gross rent above UGX 2,820,000 a year, with no deduction for expenses, and a company pays 30% after deducting up to 50% of the rent as expenses. URA's landlord page says a designated withholding agent deducts 6% from rent payments above UGX 1 million, and that credit is given against the final tax. Payment channels include banks, mobile money, Visa and Mastercard and USSD.

Your provider statements are your income record. Keep them for each property and each month, and match the amounts to the receipts. The rates and examples are on Tax on Rental Income in Uganda. This is general information as of November 2026.

What happens on a failed payment or reversal?

First check the provider dashboard before you treat a missed payment as arrears. Flutterwave's developer documentation says to verify a transaction before crediting the customer, so rely on the settled record, not a screenshot from the tenant. If a payment failed, ask the tenant to try again and keep the messages. For reversals and disputed card payments, rules differ between providers, and we could not confirm the Uganda process for either one, so read the provider's terms and ask their support before you agree a tenancy that depends on card payments.

If rent stays unpaid, the Act treats it as arrears. Rent accrues from day to day (section 23). A landlord may apply to court to recover rent owed, and if the default continues for more than 30 days may re-enter and take possession in the presence of an area local council official and the police (section 29). The landlord may not use force or lock the tenant out, because section 45 forbids evicting a tenant except in line with the Act. Read Tenant Not Paying Rent: Landlord Steps Under the 2022 Act for the steps.

How do I set it up with Land & Property?

Open your merchant account, then connect it through the rent tools in the landlord access plan. Read what the plan covers on Landlord Access Plan: Pay Monthly, List and Collect Rent. If you would rather have a manager collect, compare the controls on Property Management in Uganda: Services, Fees, Choosing, and check tenants first with How to Find and Screen Good Tenants in Uganda. The whole route is in the Landlord Guide for Uganda: Law, Tax and Rent Collection and rentals live on Houses and Apartments for Rent in Uganda.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Landlord Guide for Uganda: Law, Tax and Rent Collection
• Landlord Access Plan: Pay Monthly, List and Collect Rent
• Rent Receipts and Records: What Tenants Should Keep
• Tax on Rental Income in Uganda
• Tenant Not Paying Rent: Landlord Steps Under the 2022 Act
• Property Management in Uganda: Services, Fees, Choosing