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Diaspora · Full-service, remote management

Rent out your Dakar property from Paris, New York, or Milan.

Lokat is more than a platform: it's a Dakar-based team (field + legal) that manages your property under your instructions. You track everything in real time from your dashboard. No agency commission — Lokat earns only on rent actually collected.

Sign me up as a diaspora owner How it works
  • Zero agency commission
  • Field team in Dakar
  • Real-time dashboard
  • Dedicated coordinator

0 diaspora owners on the list

Family home, Mermoz

Family home, Mermoz

Rental ads wall in Dakar — the informal rental market

The diaspora reality

Renting out your property from abroad is three headaches in one.

You know it if you own a property in Senegal and live somewhere else. Here are the three traps that come up every time.

  • No one on the ground

    No trusted cousin who can really manage on top of their day job. No neighbor who handles a leaking pipe. You discover problems six months too late.

    Average diaspora ↔ Dakar distance: 4,500 km

  • The cousin-manager

    Brothers, uncles, and neighbors do their best. But it's free, so it falls last on the list. And family conflicts about rent money always show up eventually.

    83% of diaspora-owned units are managed by family

  • Administrative silence

    Verbal lease, deposit already spent, tenant who hasn't paid in 3 months — you find out via WhatsApp one evening. Without receipts, without a written contract, you're stuck.

    Without a rent receipt, no legal action is possible

How Lokat manages for you

Four steps, no travel required.

You hand off your property from your couch in Paris or New York. We take it from there in Dakar.

The Lokat app — verified listing with Wave payment

  1. You hand us the property

    Management mandate signed online (consular power of attorney if needed). You provide the property document and ID once. We take it from there.

    Timeframe: 24–72 hours

  2. We visit and list

    Our local team photographs the property, runs a video tour, drafts the listing, and publishes after verification. You approve remotely.

    Timeframe: 5–7 days

  3. Verified tenant, lease signed

    Tenant ID verified (CNI), lease compliant with Decree 2023-382, digital condition report. All e-signed, you receive a PDF copy.

    Timeframe: 1–2 weeks

  4. Rent collected, real-time dashboard

    Rent paid each month via Wave / Orange Money, 2% retained, the rest wired to your account (Senegalese or international). You track every payment, every alert, every action by the field team from your dashboard.

    Timeframe: Every month

Why you can hand us your property

Handing over a family home is no small thing.

Here is exactly what Lokat puts in place for diaspora owners.

  • Direct marketplace

    You stay the lease holder, in direct relationship with the tenant. Zero agency commission — Lokat charges only 2% on rent actually collected.

  • Field team in Dakar

    A Lokat operator on the ground who executes your instructions: visits, condition reports, repairs, tenant communication.

  • Dedicated legal team

    Lease drafting compliant with Decree 2023-382, formal notices, lease termination, disputes. You write zero legal letters yourself.

  • Real-time dashboard

    Live payment status, property condition, deadlines, late-payment alerts. Visible from anywhere, 24/7.

  • Single coordinator throughout the mandate

    One Lokat contact for you, from the first call until lease end. No call centers, no transfers.

Pricing

2% of collected rent. Zero agency commission.

No signup fee, no subscription, no listing fee (which can run 0.5–2 months' rent at traditional agencies). If your unit is vacant, you pay nothing. If the tenant doesn't pay, you pay nothing. Lokat earns only on rent actually collected through the platform.

Portrait of the founder of Lokat

Krishnan Shankar

Founder · Lokat

I have lived in Dakar for over 5 years. I have seen enough diaspora owners get their property mismanaged — tenants who don't pay, agencies that pocket the rent, apartments left to deteriorate — to understand the real problem isn't the commission. It's distance and opacity.

Lokat addresses this with a remote dashboard, a local visit team available on request, and traceable Wave / Orange Money payments. You get control of your property back without having to fly to Dakar every three months.

Partnership Lokat operates in partnership with a licensed Senegalese real estate firm (Carte Professionnelle, Decree 83-423). Partner announcement coming soon.

Diaspora waitlist

Be among the first diaspora owners to use Lokat.

Free signup, no commitment. You will be notified the moment we open in early access, with personalized onboarding to bring your property under management.

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Diaspora FAQ

Everything diaspora owners ask before handing over their property.

If a question is missing, write to us — we will add it.

How do I hand my property to Lokat from abroad without traveling to Senegal?
Everything happens remotely. You sign an electronic management mandate from your country. If a formal power of attorney is required (depending on your case and notary), we coordinate with the Senegalese consulate nearest to you (Paris, New York, Montreal, Milan, etc.). Once the mandate is signed, we take it from there in Dakar: visit, photos, listing, tenant search, lease signing, rent collection.
Who visits and verifies my property in Dakar?
Our local Lokat team in Dakar, led by our licensed partner firm (Carte Professionnelle). When we onboard your property, we do a complete inspection: high-resolution photos, video of every room, documented overall condition, verified measurements. You receive the entire package in a digital dossier. For each future visit requested by a prospective tenant, an agent is dispatched again.
Will I have a single point of contact at Lokat?
Yes. From signup, a Lokat coordinator is assigned to you — the same person who supports you from the first call until the end of the mandate. No call centers, no transfers between departments. Your coordinator orchestrates the field team (visits, condition reports, repairs) and the legal team (lease, formal notices, disputes) on your behalf. You give your instructions to one person, who executes everything via the right teams in Dakar.
Can I track payments and the property condition in real time?
Yes — that's the entire point of your owner dashboard. You see live: month-by-month payment status (collected / pending / late), full payment history and receipts, log of every action by the field team (visits, repairs, tenant contact), automatic alerts for late payments or incidents, quarterly inspection photos and reports. Available 24/7 from any phone or computer, in English or French.
How does the rent money reach me each month?
Two options. (1) Senegalese account: rent lands directly in your Senegalese account in CFA Francs, less the 2% Lokat fee. Fastest and cheapest option. (2) International wire: we transfer the rent to your account abroad in EUR, USD, or CAD. Exchange fees disclosed in advance. Settlement in 3 to 5 business days. Official rent receipt emailed for every transfer.
How does Lokat screen tenants?
Three systematic checks before signing: (1) ID (CNI or passport) verified via Smile ID, (2) proof of income (payslip, employer attestation, or 3 months of bank statements), (3) rental history if available. You receive the full candidate file and you decide whether to approve or reject. Lokat proposes, you decide. No lease is signed without your explicit approval.
What happens if the tenant stops paying rent?
Lokat automatically sends a reminder on the due date, then again 3 and 7 days later. Beyond 10 days late, we trigger an official formal notice (mise en demeure) on behalf of the owner, using a template compliant with Senegalese law. If non-payment persists, we build the complete file (receipts, timestamped reminders, formal-notice proofs) for an eviction action before the small-claims court. You are informed by email at each step.
How much does Lokat cost for a diaspora owner?
2% of rent actually collected through Lokat. That's it. No monthly subscription, no signup fee, no listing fee, and most importantly: zero agency commission. A traditional agency typically charges 8–10% of monthly rent plus half-a-month to a full month's rent every time the property is listed or the lease is renewed. With Lokat, for a typical Dakar monthly rent (between 350,000 and 1,500,000 CFA depending on neighborhood), your fees range from 7,000 to 30,000 CFA per month — 4 to 5 times cheaper than a traditional agency over the long run. If your property sits vacant or the tenant doesn't pay, you pay nothing.
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