Tenant screening in Ghana — when there's no credit bureau to call

In the US, every prospective tenant comes with a credit score. In the UK, there's a referencing agency that pulls bank statements and employer confirmation in 48 hours. In Ghana, neither exists at the consumer scale.

That doesn't mean tenant screening is impossible. It means the playbook is different — running on a few simple checks and on meeting the person face to face. It's the one we run with every landlord who joins Poga: thorough enough to catch the real problems, light enough that you'll use it.

The checks that carry the weight

You don't need a credit bureau to vet a tenant well. A few simple checks carry most of the weight, and none of them take more than a phone call or two:

1. The last landlord. A quick call to their previous landlord is the single most useful thing you can do. Did they pay on time, and did they leave the place well? Someone who was a problem before is usually a problem again.
2. Proof they can pay. Keep this flexible — Ghanaian tenants are salaried, self-employed, and traders alike. A job letter, a look at the shop or business, or a few months of local-payment inflows — mobile money or bank — all work. You're checking that money comes in steadily, not snooping.
3. A guarantor for thin files. If the income picture is light — a recent graduate, a new trader — ask for someone steady to stand for them. It's normal practice here, and it shares the risk.

What we don't ask for

• Salary slips. Among the easiest documents to fake, so they tell you little on their own.
• Family members. The conflict of interest makes their word hard to weigh.
• Religious leaders. They'll naturally speak well of a member, so it's hard to read as an independent signal.

Just meet them and talk

Forget the formal sit-down interview — that's not really how it works here, and you don't need it. What you do need is to actually meet the person before you hand over keys. If you're managing from abroad, your caretaker or manager can meet them for you.

A normal conversation tells you most of what a form can't. In a few minutes you naturally pick up:

• Why they're leaving their current place. "The landlord was difficult" after a short stay is worth a second thought.
• What they do, and how steady it is. You're listening for a real, consistent source of income — a job or a running business.
• When they want to move in, and who's actually moving in. Timing, and how many people will really live there.

You're not cross-examining anyone. You're getting a feel for whether this is someone you'd want in your property for the next year — and people who plan to be trouble rarely sit comfortably through a simple, friendly chat.

The Ghana Card check

Always. Verify the card via the NIA's free app — confirms the photo, the number, the issue date. Pin a copy of the verified card in the lease folder. This is the single line of defence against rental fraud (someone sub-letting your unit on Airbnb without your knowledge, for example).

The deposit math

Two months' rent + utility deposit + agent commission, capped at four months' total in escrow. Anything more than that is the landlord testing the market — Ghana's Rent Act 220 of 1963 says one to two months max, though enforcement is sporadic. We default to two months and recommend landlords don't push past it. The applicant pool gets dramatically narrower at three months and dries up at four.

(Separately, on advance rent — the year or two up front many landlords still ask for — a proposed update to the Rent Act would cap that at six months. Worth tracking, since deposit and advance often get bundled together.)

When you'd still take the risk

Not every applicant will pass this gauntlet. Some don't deserve to. But sometimes the best applicant is the one with a thin file — a recent graduate, a returnee from the diaspora, a freelancer.

In those cases:

• Shorter lease (six months instead of twelve), with a renewal at month four.
• A guarantor who does have a paper trail. Their bank statement, not a photocopy of their ID.
• An honest conversation about why the file is thin. Recent graduates don't have references; they have transcripts and offer letters.

You’re not trying to filter to perfection. You’re trying to know who you’re renting to. The system that catches the worst 5% of applicants is doing 95% of the work; the remaining 5% is judgement.

💡 Screen tenants on Poga. A clean application form, the Ghana Card check, and a real conversation — all on one link at poga.app.