Properties and units
A property is the building or the house. A unit is a lettable space inside it - a flat, a shop, a floor. A single house is still a property; it simply has one unit.
Add a property under Properties, then add its units. For each unit record the type, the size, and the rent you expect. The expected rent is what new leases default to, so keeping it current saves typing and catches mistakes.
Owners
Owners are whoever the rent belongs to after your fee. Record their contact details, their bank details for payouts, and any agreement terms.
Ownership can be recorded at two levels:
- Property level - the whole building or house belongs to one owner, or to several owners
sharing it. This is the common case.
- Unit level - individual units are owned separately, as in a strata or apartment block where
each flat has its own owner.
Unit-level ownership overrides the property's. If a unit has no owner of its own, the property's ownership applies, so a whole building with one owner only needs recording once.
Record ownership before you collect rent. Payouts are calculated from it, and rent collected against a unit nobody owns has nowhere to go.
Co-owned property
Where several people share a property, record each with their share. Payouts split along those shares automatically, so you never calculate percentages by hand at the end of the month.
Keeping the record honest
Mark units as occupied, vacant or under maintenance as reality changes. Occupancy reporting is only as good as this, and a unit left marked occupied after a tenant leaves quietly overstates both your occupancy rate and your expected income.