How to add units and leases, and keep track of rent

Keep a record for each home or flat you rent out, the lease behind it, and which months of rent are paid, late or overdue.

Updated 2026-10-18

Rentals keeps one record for each home or flat you rent out: who owns it, the lease behind it, its permit and insurance dates, and the rent that falls due each month. It is in the Operations group of the menu.

Rentals starts switched on for property businesses. For any other kind of business, an owner or admin switches on Rentals in Settings → What you use.

Add a unit

1. Press Add unit.
2. Type a Name, for example "12 Oak St, flat 2", and the Address.
3. Under Let, choose Long-term or Short-term. Short-term units get calendar links and turnover cleanings: see how to run short-term rentals.
4. Fill in Bedrooms and Status (active, vacant, setting up or inactive).
5. Pick the Landlord or owner from your contacts.
6. If you have them, add the Short-term rental permit, Permit expires and Insurance renews dates.
7. Press Save. The unit opens.

Save stays grayed out until the unit has a name and an owner; the button says which is missing ("Give the unit a name" or "Pick the landlord or owner").

Add a lease

A lease runs one of two ways:

• We let to tenant: you rent the unit out and receive the rent.
• We rent from landlord: you rent the unit yourself, for example to host guests in it, and pay the rent.

1. Open the unit and press Add lease.
2. Choose the direction under Lease, then pick the Tenant or Landlord from your contacts.
3. Type Rent we receive (or Rent we pay), the Due day of the month, and the Starts date. Ends and Deposit are optional; with no end date the lease is shown as open-ended.
4. For a lease you rent from a landlord, set Sublet permitted to Yes, No or Unknown, and note where the lease says so in Sublet note.
5. Press Save.

Under each lease, press Add photos or files to keep the signed lease and other papers with it.

Keep track of rent

Open the Rent tab. Otto works out each month's rent from the lease's due day, start and end, so there is nothing to set up.

• Arrears lists each tenant who is behind, how much and for how many months. With nobody behind it says "Nobody is behind."
• Rent we pay shows this month's rent due to landlords and how much of it you have marked paid.
• Ledger lists overdue months first, then recent months and the next one due. A month that has passed its due day without being paid shows overdue.

On each month that is not paid:

• Paid marks it paid in full.
• Part asks for the Amount paid and marks it part-paid.
• Late marks it late.
• Remind (rent a tenant pays you) writes a reminder email to the tenant. It waits in Reviews until you approve it; nothing is sent before that.

Otto also points out, in Opportunities, rent that is overdue, leases ending within 60 days, permits or insurance expiring within 30 days, and short-term units on a lease where subletting is not marked as permitted.

If it doesn't work

• "Rentals is switched off for this business. Switch it on under Settings." — an owner or admin switches on Rentals in Settings → What you use.
• "A lease ends after it starts." — check the Ends date.
• "Rent is due on a day of the month, 1 to 31." — fix the Due day.
• "Part-paid is more than nothing and less than the rent." — for the full amount, press Paid instead.
• "… has no email address. Add one on their contact first." — Remind needs the tenant's email on their contact.
• "That month is paid." — a paid month needs no reminder.
• "Your position (…) does not see money figures." — someone who manages the team can change that.