How do I create a lease?

A lease in the system is a digital document that officially recognizes a legally binding relationship between two parties — a landlord and a tenant.

To create a lease, go to the Contacts page from the side menu of your dashboard. The default page shows the tenants in A-Z order. Apply the "No lease" option from the "+ Lease" filter to view those tenants that are not moved in. Find the necessary tenant and select the "Move In" button from the three-dots menu:

Currently, there are two scenarios that allow you to create a lease for your tenant - the Easy move in and the Advanced move in options. The main difference between these two modes is that the Easy move in scenario does not include Dependents section, Other Recurring Lease Transactions, Management fees (Property Manager mode) and Private attachments sections.

To select the mode option, put a checkmark near the one you need and press the “Get started” button.

Please note! Once you select one of the modes and press the “Get started” button,  you will not be able to return back on the first step and change the mode.

The following link may be useful for you:
What is the difference between Easy and Advanced Move in?

The move in process includes a few steps to set up recurring rent invoicing, deposit, and other details. Fill out all the necessary information for the lease including property, unit, lease type, dates, rent schedule, cost of rent per month, and other details.

There are two types of leases for tenants: to pay individually or jointly.

With "tenants pay individually", the rent, deposit and other lease transaction amounts will be split between tenants with their exact portion for each tenant. The system will post separate invoices for each of your tenants.

Please note!

     1. Late fees will be applied to the exact portion of the tenant's rent separately.

     2. Your tenants can pay their portion of rent or other transactions and make partial payments if you have that setting enabled.

     3. Management fees will be applied to the total rent amount.

"Tenants pay jointly" means the tenants will each see one invoice with a full rental amount and will be collectively responsible for it.

The following link might be useful:
What is the difference if I create a lease for my tenants to pay individually vs. jointly?

In both cases, if you edit the lease, you will be able to add/ remove tenants, but you won't be able to change the invoicing type.

Please note!
You cannot add more than 10 co-tenants to the lease.

On the second step of the lease entitled "Lease transactions" fill in: Rent, Deposit and/or Other lease recurring transactions information.

If you choose to have your tenants pay individually, then the system automatically divides the rent, deposit and other lease transactions equally to each of your tenants. You may also assign the amounts yourself. 

Please note!
Make sure that split amounts won't be higher or lower than the total amount. Otherwise, you will need to change the total amount.

You can add past, active, and future leases to keep the reports accurate and up to date. You need to adjust the lease start/end dates and the first invoice date for the recurring transactions. The system will generate the unpaid lease transactions after you create it. Additionally, you can set the option to mark past transactions as paid and the system will mark all invoices with a due date in the past as paid:

Please note!
Make sure you have entered the correct "First invoice date," as the system will post all recurring invoices based on the first invoice date and the schedule. 

On the third step of the lease entitled "Extra Fees & Utilities" fill in: Late Fee Settings and Utilities. Press the "Next step" button:

"Insurance" is the fourth step of the move-in process. You can enable the toggle "Require” and select tenant/s to purchase renters insurance. Renters insurance will cover your personal property and personal liability. Then press the "Complete move in" button.

This might be helpful:
Why should you require liability insurance?
Can landlord/community be listed as an additional insured?
Can roommates share coverage through one policy?

Congratulations on successfully moving your tenants in. Now that the lease is active, recurring invoices will be posted according to the lease configurations. You can proceed by creating a lease agreement, that will be attached to the lease, simply by clicking the “Request e-signature” button on the following pop-up window.

You can either select a previously added/Basic Residential lease agreement or create a new template. You can also add Landlord forms. You may select the Landlord forms, which are state-specific or applicable to all states. You can add 10 templates by clicking on +add. You may also add shared (visible to your tenant) or private (visible to you only) attachments if you disable the “Include agreements” toggle button.

Please note!
Landlord Forms are available for U.S. customers only starting with the Growth plan. 

Once the template is selected, you are able to add and require the following fields and then assign them to a specific tenant while moving them in:

Signature - put this field on the document if you want to get your tenant’s signature or add your own signature;

Initials - work in a similar way as a signature, but in this case, you or your tenant will enter only initials on the document.

Date Signed - this field will show when the document has actually been submitted and signed;

Textbox - using this option, you may request a tenant to enter any needed information while signing the agreement(s) or you can enter any information to your textbox to appear while moving your tenant in. Choose the character limit and placeholder text:

Please note! Signature/Initials rules:

• You can require signature or initials from your tenant(s) after each agreement clause by assigning the signature/initials element to them;
• You are able to re-assign signature/initials to yourself or to other tenants;
• Once the signature or initials elements are assigned to at least one tenant, then the Send to review button is shown;
• You can decide which template and from which tenant to require signature or initials.

You may also enable the “Default Signatures” toggle button. It will automatically add signatures/date signed and assign them to all your tenants you are about to move in.

Please note!
Default signatures option can be adjusted to each agreement selected on the lease, but only for the text editor.

Finally, take a look at the final template by pressing the Preview button. If everything is correct, press the “Send to review“ button.

This might be helpful:
How to update electronic signature?
How to add Residential Agreement template?

Please note! You can add up to 50,000 symbols to the document.

You can view the lease agreement and insurance statutes on the corresponding widgets to see if they are pending (requiring actions from your tenants) or if they have been signed and purchased, respectively.

Last updated:
Sep. 12, 2024