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How to Take a Tenant Photo That Passes the Check

Who this is for: agents taking a tenant's photo while posting a Rent Request.

What you will get from it: a photo that passes first time, so you are not standing in the sun retaking it.

The photo is taken live in the app, with the tenant in front of you. Before the form lets you continue, the app checks the photo for four things.

The four things the check looks for​

One face, clearly visible. Just the tenant. Not a group, not a photo with someone standing behind them, and not a picture of another photograph or an ID card.

Enough light. Faces photographed against a bright window or in deep shade come out as a dark shape. Natural daylight with the light falling on the face, not behind it, is what works.

Facing the camera. Straight on, like a passport photo. Not turned to the side, not looking down, not tilted.

Nothing covering the face. Cap off, sunglasses off, mask down. A head covering that leaves the face clear is fine; anything shading or covering the face is not.

How to take it​

  1. Step outside, or into a doorway where daylight reaches the tenant's face.
  2. Stand the tenant so the light is on their face and behind you, not behind them.
  3. Ask them to remove a cap, glasses or mask, and to look straight at the phone.
  4. Hold the phone at their eye level, about an arm's length away.
  5. Take the photo and wait for the check.
  6. If it passes, you can continue. If not, read what it says and retake — see when the photo check fails.

Why Welile asks for it​

So that the person on the Rent Plan is the person who was actually there. The photo, taken live, is one part of that — it makes it much harder to put a plan in the name of somebody who was never present.

The photo check is one check, not all of them

Passing the photo check means the photo is usable. It is not the same as identity verification, and it does not by itself prove who the person is — the National ID details and the verification phone calls do separate work. It also does not mean a request will be approved.

What this is not​

Do not use:

  • a photo from the phone's gallery, or one the tenant sends you;
  • a photo of a printed photo, a National ID card or a screen;
  • a photo of anybody other than the tenant on the plan.

Submitting a photo of someone who is not the tenant is not a shortcut. It fails at the verification call, the request is rejected, and it puts your own account under review.

Still need help?​

Contact Welile Support on WhatsApp, call +256 777 607640, or email info@welile.com.

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