Creating and Managing Leases

A lease ties a tenant to a unit and sets the rent terms. It's the record everything else hangs off of — payments, deposits, and notices all reference the lease.

Create a lease

1. Open Leases and click New Lease.
2. Pick the property, then the unit, then the tenant.
3. Set the start and end dates.
4. Enter monthly rent, security deposit, late fee, and the rent due day (the day of the month rent is due).
5. Choose a status (usually Draft to start, then Active).
6. Click Save Lease.

A lease number is generated for you. You can also create a lease by scanning a lease agreement — see Lease agreement and signing.

Lease statuses

Leases move through Draft → Active → Notice Given → Expired/Terminated. You can change status from the lease or the list. The Dashboard highlights leases expiring in the next 60 days so renewals don't sneak up on you.

Account history (the ledger)

Open a lease to see its Account History — a plain-English ledger of every charge and payment with a running balance. Each line explains why it's there. At the top you'll see a one-sentence summary, for example "Jane still owes $1,200" or "Paid ahead by $300 (credit on the account)."

Opening balance

If a tenant already owed you money (or had a credit) before you started using Rental Command, record it as an opening balance on the lease:

1. Open the lease and choose to add an opening balance.
2. Pick the direction — tenant owed or credit — and enter the amount and an "as of" date.
3. Save. It appears as the first "Opening" entry in the Account History so the running balance is correct from day one.