Rental management for owners and tenants
Porchlight is one warm, well-lit place where owners and tenants share the lease, the rent, the inspection photos, the repairs and every date that matters. No agent in the middle, nothing left in the dark.
Why a porch light?
Someone’s home. You’re expected. It’s safe to come up to the door. We built Porchlight around that feeling, because renting a home should feel the same for both sides.
Owners and tenants each get their own simple dashboard. Summaries first, details when you tap.
No spreadsheet, no shoebox, no agent’s commission on your rent.
What you owe, when it’s due, and proof that your repair request didn’t vanish into a chat.
Always free for tenants. You join by invitation from your owner.
Rental Housing Act. Joint move-in and move-out inspections, deposit interest, receipts and the 7, 14 or 21-day refund countdown are built in.
Consumer Protection Act. The renewal notice goes out in the 40 to 80 business-day window, and your tenant answers with one tap.
POPIA. Encrypted, stored in South Africa, and each person only ever sees their own tenancy. Every action is logged.
Every plan gets every feature. Your plan only grows with the number of homes and how much photo and video storage you need. Tenants never pay.
Founding owners who join during the pilot get Lantern free for their first year.
Features
Deliberately simple. Everything here earns its place by saving an owner or a tenant time, money or an argument. And every plan gets all of it.
Every payment, inspection and deadline on a single ribbon. See at a glance where the tenancy stands and what’s next.
Record each room with photos, short video clips and a condition rating. Sign together, then compare move-in and move-out side by side.
Porchlight sends the renewal notice inside the CPA window. Your tenant answers renew, not renewing or let’s talk, and the answer is logged.
A short checklist shows what the law expects of you and whether it’s done: written lease, joint inspection, deposit in an interest-bearing account, receipts, the renewal notice.
Your next payment, your next date and anything waiting on you, the moment you sign in.
Snap a photo or a ten-second video, describe the problem and follow it through quote, booking and fixed. No more “did you get my message?”
Your signed move-in report with photos stays in your account, so the condition you found the home in is never in question.
Pricing
Every plan gets every feature. Your plan only depends on how many homes you run and how much storage you need. Tenants are always free.
For your first rental. The small flame that’s always on.
R0free, for as long as you like
No card needed
For owners with a flat, a cottage and a house.
R89per month, cancel any time
Free for 12 months for founding owners
For a growing portfolio you still run yourself.
R229per month, cancel any time
7-day cooling-off on every paid plan
For full-time owners with a bigger book of homes.
R549per month, cancel any time
Priority email support
More than 30 homes? Talk to us about a plan that fits. Need more space on any plan? Add 50 GB for R25 a month.
Inspections and repairs are where photos and videos add up, so every plan comes with its own secure storage in South Africa.
Most private owners have one rental. We want Porchlight to be the normal way to run it, so your first home is free with every feature. Paid plans are for owners with more homes or more media, and they keep the lights on here.
No. We don’t find tenants, manage your property or collect your rent. Porchlight is the tool you and your tenant use to run the tenancy yourselves.
Never. Tenants are free on every plan, and you can add every person on the lease.
On encrypted servers in South Africa. Owners and tenants only see their own tenancy, and every action is recorded in an audit log, in line with POPIA.
You drop back to Pilot Light. Nothing is deleted: you keep reading everything, and you choose which home stays active.
Yes. Upload the signed lease and fill in the key dates. Porchlight builds the rent schedule and reminders from there.
By card or debit order through a registered South African payment provider. We never see or store your card number.
Guides
South African rental law and how to use Porchlight, explained without the jargon. Short enough to read on your phone.
The deposit belongs to the tenant until it’s used for something the lease allows. The owner must keep it in an interest-bearing account, and the interest goes to the tenant. The tenant can ask for proof of the interest earned.
When it must be paid back. Within 7 days after the lease ends if there’s nothing to deduct. Within 14 days of the repairs being finished if there are deductions, with receipts. Within 21 days if the tenant didn’t come to the outgoing inspection.
In Porchlight: the deposit tracker adds interest each month and starts the refund countdown on move-out day.
Owner and tenant inspect the home together before the tenant moves in, and again within the 3 days before the lease ends. Record the condition of each room and sign it. Photos make it far easier to agree.
If the owner doesn’t do the joint inspection, the law treats the home as having been returned in good order, and the owner loses the right to claim for damage from the deposit. If the tenant doesn’t come, the owner inspects alone within 7 days.
In Porchlight: both of you sign the report in the app, and move-in and move-out are compared room by room.
Under the Consumer Protection Act, the owner must remind the tenant that the lease is ending 40 to 80 business days before the end date, and say what will happen. If nobody does anything, the lease carries on month to month.
A tenant may cancel a fixed-term lease early with 20 business days’ written notice, and pay a reasonable cancellation penalty if the lease provides for one. A fixed term can’t be longer than 24 months, unless a longer term clearly benefits the tenant.
Strictly, the CPA covers owners who let in the ordinary course of business. Porchlight follows these rules for every lease, because it’s the fair and safe default.
There’s no national cap on rent increases. During a fixed term, rent only goes up if the lease says how and when. At renewal, agree the new rent in writing. Give your tenant plenty of notice, ideally with the renewal reminder.
If the municipal account is in the owner’s name, recharge the tenant at cost and share the statement. Adding a mark-up is a common complaint at the Rental Housing Tribunal.
In Porchlight: upload the statement and the recharge equals the statement amount, with the statement attached for your tenant.
Rental income is taxable and goes on your ITR12. You can deduct costs like rates, levies, bond interest, building insurance, repairs and agent fees. Improvements are capital, not repairs. A deposit only counts as income once you use it.
In Porchlight: the SARS rental statement adds up the tax year (March to February) for you. Check it with your tax practitioner.
As an owner you collect personal information about your tenant, so POPIA applies to you too. Only keep what the tenancy needs, keep it safe, and don’t share it without a good reason.
Don’t store ID copies in your email or WhatsApp. In Porchlight, ID numbers are encrypted and shown only as the last four digits, and children on the lease are listed by name only.
Send a friendly reminder first. If it isn’t paid, send a written notice giving the tenant time to pay. For CPA leases that’s 20 business days. If it’s still unpaid, the owner may cancel the lease.
Eviction can only happen through a court order under the PIE Act. Never change the locks, remove belongings or cut off electricity or water. That’s unlawful and can be reversed by a court.
In Porchlight: reminders and the breach notice are logged, and you can export a pack for your attorney.
Ask in writing first, quoting the refund deadline. If that doesn’t work, you can lay a complaint with your province’s Rental Housing Tribunal. It’s free. Your signed inspection reports and payment history in Porchlight are your evidence.
Tenant: switch off the geyser at the DB board and close the water at the stopcock (both are in your home guide), then report it as urgent with a photo. Owner: call your plumber and your building insurer. Geysers are usually the owner’s cost and covered by building insurance.
A verbal lease is still a lease. But the tenant can ask for it in writing, and the owner must then put it in writing. A written lease protects both of you, so Porchlight always starts with one.
Under the CPA, the tenant gives 20 business days’ written notice. The owner can charge a reasonable cancellation penalty if the lease allows for it, taking into account things like how soon the home is let again.
Sign in, tap Add a property and answer a few questions: rooms, lease dates, rent, meters and the home guide. Porchlight builds the rent schedule, the calendar and both dashboards for you. You can add the tenant now or later.
Add your tenant’s name and email to the lease and tap Invite. They set up their own free login and only ever see their own home.
Walk through the home together with your phone. Each room lists what to check. Change only what isn’t in good condition, add photos or a short video, and both sign at the end.
Tenants see the owner’s banking details and a unique reference. Pay by EFT, PayShap or debit order, then tap I’ve paid and add the proof. The owner confirms it, and a receipt is issued.
Your storage meter is under your name, top right, then Plan and storage. Photos are resized for you. If you’re close to the limit, archive an old tenancy or move up a plan.
No guides match that. Try another word, or ask us.
These guides are general information, not legal or tax advice. For your situation, speak to an attorney or a tax practitioner.
Our story
I live in Gordon’s Bay, I write software, and I’m about to become a landlord for the first time.
Getting ready to let my own place, I pictured how it usually goes: the lease in one folder, inspection photos on my phone, rent in a banking app, and the renewal date somewhere in my head. When something goes wrong, nobody, owner or tenant, can find the record. Things that should be simple end up in the dark.
So I’m building Porchlight, for me and for my tenant first. My home will be the first one on it.
The name comes from the light by the front door. Here we call it the stoep light. You leave it on when you’re expecting someone. It says welcome, it says we’re home, and it keeps the step safe. That’s what renting should feel like, for both sides.
Porchlight is built by an ordinary person, for ordinary people: owners with one or two homes and tenants who just want to know where they stand.
Contact
Questions, ideas, or keen to be a founding owner? Send a message and you’ll hear back from a person, usually within one working day.
Already a tenant on Porchlight? For repairs and rent, message your owner from your dashboard so it’s kept with your tenancy.
Legal
How Porchlight handles personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Last updated 12 October 2026.
Porchlight is operated by Porchlight Living (Pty) Ltd (registration number CIPC registration number), street address, Gordon’s Bay, 7140, Western Cape. Our Information Officer is Information Officer name, reachable at privacy@porchlight.co.za.
We are the responsible party for your account information. For the tenancy records an owner adds (the lease, inspections, payments), we process that information on the owner’s behalf and on the instructions of the owner and tenant using the service.
Only what a tenancy needs: names, email and phone numbers; the lease and its key dates; rent, deposit and utilities records; inspection photos and videos; meter readings; repair requests and messages; and, where the lease needs it, an ID number, which we encrypt and only ever show as the last four digits. For children on a lease we record names only. We also keep a log of sign-ins and actions for security.
To provide the service you and your owner or tenant signed up for (performing the contract), to meet legal duties such as tax record-keeping, and to keep the service secure. We use consent only for optional things, like product news. We never sell your information and never use it for advertising.
The owner and the people on that lease, and nobody else. Our staff can only open your records to help you when you ask, and that access is logged. We share information with suppliers who help us run Porchlight (hosting, email and SMS delivery, e-signatures, payments), each under a written agreement that requires POPIA-level protection.
This public website holds no tenancy records. It is hosted by Cloudflare, which serves pages from data centres close to you, including in South Africa. If you use the contact form or join the founding owners, your name, email address and message are sent by email to our own mailbox so we can reply; we use them only for that, and delete founding-owner details if the pilot is not for you. Cloudflare and our email provider may process this outside South Africa under agreements that give protection equal to POPIA (section 72). The site sets no cookies.
On encrypted servers in South Africa, with encrypted backups. If a supplier processes information outside South Africa (for example to deliver email), we only use suppliers bound by laws or agreements that give protection equal to POPIA, as section 72 requires.
For as long as your account is active, and for five years after a tenancy ends, to cover tax and legal claims. Then we delete or anonymise it automatically.
You can ask to see, correct, download or delete your information, or object to how we use it, at any time and at no cost. We reply within 30 days. Most of this you can do yourself in Settings. If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, you may complain to the Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.
If your information is ever compromised, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as section 22 requires.
Draft for the pilot. To be reviewed by a POPIA specialist before launch.
Legal
The agreement between you and Porchlight Living (Pty) Ltd when you use Porchlight. Last updated 12 October 2026.
Porchlight is software that helps property owners and tenants keep the records of a tenancy in one place. We are not a letting agent or property practitioner. We don’t find tenants, act for owners, give legal advice, or receive or hold rent. Rent is paid directly between tenant and owner.
You must give accurate information and keep your sign-in safe. Owners must be 18 or older. Owners confirm they have the right to add the information of the people on their lease, and tenants join by invitation.
Pilot Light is free. Paid plans are billed monthly or yearly in advance through a registered payment provider. You may cancel a new paid plan within 7 days for a full refund (the cooling-off period under section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act). After that you can cancel any time and keep the plan until the end of the period you paid for. We give at least 30 days’ notice of any price change.
Each plan includes the storage shown on the pricing page. If you reach it, new uploads pause until you free up space or change plans. We never delete your records for going over your limit.
What you upload stays yours. You give us permission to store and display it only to provide the service. Don’t upload anything unlawful or anything you don’t have the right to share.
Don’t try to access another person’s tenancy, disrupt the service, or use Porchlight to harass anyone. We may suspend accounts that do.
We work hard to keep Porchlight accurate, available and secure. Dates, notices and statements in Porchlight are tools to help you; you remain responsible for your own legal and tax obligations. Nothing in these terms limits your rights under the Consumer Protection Act.
You can close your account at any time and download your data first. We keep tenancy records for five years after a tenancy ends, as described in our privacy notice.
These terms are governed by South African law. Contact us first at hello@porchlight.co.za and we’ll try to sort it out together.
Draft for the pilot. To be reviewed by an attorney before launch.
Legal
Our manual under section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000, in short form. The full manual is available on request.
Porchlight Living (Pty) Ltd, registration number CIPC registration number. Physical address: street address, Gordon’s Bay, 7140, Western Cape. Information Officer: Information Officer name, privacy@porchlight.co.za.
Company records (incorporation, directors, financial and tax records); customer records (account details, tenancy records added by users, sign-in and audit logs); supplier contracts; and records about our systems and security.
Use Form 2 from the Information Regulator’s website and email it to our Information Officer. Fees, where they apply, are those set in the PAIA regulations. Personal information about you can be requested free of charge under POPIA.
Our privacy notice sets out what we process, why, who receives it, cross-border transfers and how we keep it secure.
JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. inforegulator.org.za.
Short-form draft. The full manual will be published before launch.
Legal
The short version: we only use what we need to keep you signed in and remember your settings.
This website sets no cookies. It saves two small settings in your own browser: light or dark mode, and whether you’ve seen the notice. When you sign in to the Porchlight portal, it uses one essential cookie to keep you signed in securely.
No advertising cookies, no tracking pixels, no third-party analytics that follow you around the web. Our fonts and images are served from our own site, so loading a page doesn’t tell anyone else you visited.
It would be privacy-friendly, without cookies, and listed here first.
Trust
A lit porch keeps a home safe. Here’s how we look after what you trust us with.
These protections apply to the Porchlight portal, where tenancy records live. This public website holds no tenancy records and sends only contact messages.
Please tell us at security@porchlight.co.za. We’ll reply quickly and credit you if you’d like.