Adding a tenant and lease
Step 3 of the setup checklist. A lease is what ties a tenant to a unit — it's what drives rent charges, invoices and payment reminders, so nothing financial happens for a unit until one exists.
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Add the tenant first
From Tenants → Add Tenant, enter their first and last name, plus phone and (optional) email. Leave “Send invitation email” checked and they'll get a link to set their own password and access the tenant portal — you never type a password on their behalf. If they have no email on file, the invitation is skipped and you can add one (or resend an invite) from their profile later.
Then create the lease
From Leases → New Lease — or the “Create lease” link that appears next to this checklist step once a tenant exists — the wizard walks through six steps:
- Property & unit — pick the location this lease is for.
- Tenant — select the tenant you just added, add a co-tenant, or search for an existing tenant elsewhere in the portfolio.
- Template — start from a saved lease template, or skip this and write terms from scratch.
- Lease terms — start and end dates (or month-to-month), rent, security deposit, the day rent is due, and any late fee policy.
- Charges — one-time or recurring add-ons like a pet fee, parking or storage, beyond the base rent.
- Review — confirm everything before the lease is created.
Common questions
Why does the checklist still call the step “not done” after I add a tenant? It needs both a tenant and a lease — a tenant with no lease yet doesn't complete this step on its own, since nothing financial can happen without one.
Can more than one person be on a lease? Yes — the Tenant step supports adding a co-tenant, either an existing tenant or a new one, so a couple or roommates can share the same lease.
What if the tenant's invitation link expires? Every invite — staff, tenant, owner or vendor — is single-use and expires after 7 days. Resend it from the tenant's own profile; see Getting started.