The core responsibility of a property manager is to find great tenants, collect rent from tenants, manage their needs, and finally make sure they move out of the unit in a legal manner.
Great tenant and lease management software should allow you to do this in an easy, automated way that also makes sure you’re following all rental laws and regulations.
It’s especially important because according to California government data and Transunion it can cause thousands of dollars evicting a bad tenant in legal fees, lost rent and property damage.
What is lease management software?
A comprehensive lease management software should be easy to use and comprehensive to handle every situation throughout the lifetime of a tenant:
Find and onboard tenant:
- Vacancy Advertisement
- Rental Application with E-signature
- Tenant Screening
- Legal Lease Forms with E-Signature
- Cleaning and turnover of a unit
- Move In Form to get agreement on condition of property
Managing active tenants:
- Collecting, recording rent collection
- Accurate tenant balance bookkeeping
- Communication with tenant about their rent status, maintenance issues, legal communication of status via Rent Receipts, Late Rent Notice, Details Balance History
- Online rent collection – Automated and ease of use for tenant
Moving out tenants:
- Record move out date
- Accounting of Security Deposit Disposition
- Move Out pictures and form to get agreement on condition of property
- Automatic check for SD refund
How SimplifyEm can help you with tenant and lease management?
Simplifyem allows you to handle any situation you could have with a tenant in an all-inclusive package that is affordable and easy to use.
Finding and onboarding tenants
When a property manager has a vacant unit, their main goal is to get the unit ready for occupancy, find a great tenant for that property, and get them to sign a legal lease at optimal rent. So they can start collecting money instead of having that property not earn income. SimplifyEm can help you each step of the way.
Vacancy Advertisement – You want to be able to create an eye-catching advertisement that gets published on major rental websites so you get the maximum number of qualified applicants for that property.
Rental Application – You want to be able to have a legal rental application (supplied by the system or use your own) that is online and supports e-signature. You should also be able to collect application fees online.
Tenant Screening – You should be able to get a full credit, criminal and eviction history report on any applicant to make sure it matches what their rental application depicts.
Legal Lease – You want to be able to have available a legal lease appropriate to your state (supplied by the system or use your own) that is online and supports e-signature. You should also be able to collect security deposits online.
Turnover unit – You want to be able to manage all vendors and quickly turnover units, completing all cleaning and repairs as fast as possible to make the property rentable quickly.
Move-In form – Finally, you want a legal form agreement between the property manager and tenant as to the state of the property as they move in. So it’s clear any damage done by the tenant after move-in is their responsibility.
Managing active tenants
When you have a tenant in a unit, the main focus becomes collecting rent on time, maintaining accurate bookkeeping on the tenant’s balance, and communicating with the tenant about rent status or any property maintenance issue. SimplifyEm can help you each step of the way.
Collect and record rent – The most important task with an active tenant is to collect their rent and record it in your bookkeeping system.
Accurate tenant balance bookkeeping – Once money is collected, you should have accurate bookkeeping of what it’s for and what is still owed. Did you know April rent and April late fees are still owed? If you ever go to court, you have to be able to show exactly what the tenant owes you money for: Which month rent is still owed? Are there Late fees owed? Are their expenses charged to tenants that have not been paid? You need a system that can easily detail this out.
Communication with tenants – You need the ability to communicate with your tenants in multiple ways: email/SMS/Phone and have historical recording of all communications in a single place. The ability to use standard forms for communicating with tenants, such as tenant invoices, rent receipts, late rent notices, notice to vacate, lease renewal notices, is critical.
Online Rent Collection – Using paper checks is becoming less popular. More tenants want the ability to pay online via ACH or Credit Card. Also, if it can be set up to be automated based on the lease terms so neither the tenant nor property manager has to do anything and rent always gets deposited on time, that is a great service to provide.
Moving out tenants
One of the most critical phases of managing a tenant is when they’re leaving your rental property. You have to make sure you refund the appropriate security deposit back to them, with bullet-proof accounting of any money you’re keeping and exactly what it’s for. You have also made sure to record exactly that status of property in a move out report with signatures from the property manager and tenant. Simplifyem can help you each step of the way.
Move Out Tenant – To move out the tenant in a legal manner, you have to record the exact date of move out, how much security deposit you’re returning, and how much of the security deposit you’re keeping. With detailed bookkeeping of exactly what the money you’re keeping is being used for.
Move Out Picture and forms – You should record exactly the state of the property when the tenant moved out and a signature from you and the tenant.
SimplifyEM is a cost-effective and easy to use property management software, that provides all aspects of tenant management:
- Rental Listing
- Rental Application
- Tenant Screening
- Lease Forms
- Tenant Bookkeeping
- Online Rent Payment
- Tenant Communication
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) On Lease Management Software
- What is lease management software?
Lease management software helps you automate all aspects of dealing with tenants. Starting from when they move-in, to when they’re living in the unit, and finally when they move out.
It should make your property management tasks easier and also make sure you’re in legal compliance. It should help you deal with all the scenarios you could have to deal with your tenants.
- What key features should lease management software have?
Tenant and lease management software should deal with the full lifecycle of managing tenants:
- Finding a tenant for a vacant property
- Managing a tenant in an occupied property.
- Moving out a tenant from a rented property.
Some of the key events the lease management software should be able to handle are:
- Advertise vacancy
- Rental application
- Tenant screening
- Legal lease forms
- Move in forms
- Collecting and recording rent
- Online rent collection
- Tenant balance bookkeeping
- Tenant Communication with legal forms (rent invoice, rent receipts, late rent notice, notice to vacate)
- Move out forms
- Security deposit dispensation
Sources:
https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/eviction-landlord
https://www.mysmartmove.com/blog/true-cost-eviction
