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Create a New Lease

Create a lease to track charges, payments, and deposits.

Samuel avatar
Written by Samuel
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Overview

Once you have all your properties and units set up in DoorLoop, the next step is to add your leases to those properties and units. These can be existing leases, leases about to start, or leases that set in the far future. In either case, you will need to add new leases to get started with DoorLoop.

What is a lease?

A lease connects your tenants to the units they rent and records their charges, payments, and deposits. To keep things simple, DoorLoop allows you to create a lease and add a tenant at the same time.

The Steps

Step 1 - Begin the New Lease Wizard

  1. To create a new lease, click the + Create New button at the top left corner and then click Lease under the Leasing section.

Step 2 - Select the Property, Unit, and Terms

  1. In the New Lease wizard, on the Overview step, select the Property this lease will be associated with. Then select the Unit that the tenant will be leasing. (If you don’t see any properties yet, you’ll need to create some. Follow in instructions here: Add a New Property.)

  2. Next, select the Lease Terms. Decide whether this lease is a Fixed Term or Month-to-Month lease and enter the dates of the term. (If this is an existing lease, you can enter a start date in the past.)

    • Fixed Term leases require a start and end date whereas a Month-to-Month lease only requires a start date.

    • If you want your fixed term lease to continue posting charges after the lease has expired, turn on rollover to month-to-month. Your lease will still have an expiration date.

  3. Click Next to continue.

Note: If you already have an active lease set on this unit that overlaps with this new lease's terms, a warning will pop up stating this. It will tell you that you need to update the existing lease's end date to proceed.

To fix this:

  1. Click the Edit Existing Lease to the right of the error message.

  2. On the lease settings window, adjust the End Date so it does not overlap with your new lease's dates. Also, make sure Month-to-Month and Rollover to Month-to-Month is turned off on the existing lease.

There can only exist one lease on one unit at any given point in time. You cannot have overlapping lease terms for the same unit.

Step 3 - Add Tenants to the Lease

  1. Next, we need to add tenants to the lease. Click the + Add Tenant button, where you'll have two options:

    • If you already have Prospects or existing Tenants entered into DoorLoop, choose them from the list of available tenants and prospects. You can also use the search bar to narrow down the selection.

    • If the tenants you want to enter are new and not on the list, click the + New Tenant button at the top right to create a new tenant. (Enter as much information for the tenant as you’d like, but you will need to enter either a First Name and Last Name combination or Company name. You will also have to enter in the Portal Login Info, either an email address and/or mobile phone number.)

  2. When back on the New Lease wizard, if you need to add additional tenants to this lease (multi-tenant lease), click the + Add Tenant button and repeat the steps above.

  3. Now that you have added all the tenants for this lease, the next step is to set their Tenant Portal access, Renters Insurance requirements, and if you want to send them a welcome message via Text Messaging (if you have the Communications Center set up). You can toggle these on or off and can always go back and turn them on or off later.

  4. Click Next to continue.

Tip: You can add more than one tenant on a lease while creating the lease, especially if this is a lease is a multi-tenant lease. Don't worry if you don't add them all though as you can add more tenants to the lease after its creation.

Tip: Be sure to toggle off the "Welcome Message" option when creating a new lease if you do not want to send the new tenant a welcome message with your SMS number information.


Step 4 - Add the Recurring Rent Charges

  1. Now, we need to add details about the rent - the recurring rent charges, deposits, and credits needed to set up and run the lease.

  2. Enter the details of the Rent Charges. This creates a recurring rent charge which automatically adds charges to the lease on a set schedule. You can also add multiple recurring charges and even set up future rent schedules. Fill in the following information:

    • First Rent Date - This is the starting date of when you want rent to post each month. This is automatically populated based on the lease start date. You can change this manually if the first rent date is different from the start date of the lease.
      ​
      ​(Note that if the start of the rent is different from the start date of the lease, then you are also prompted to prorate the rent charge and create a one-time charge.)

    • Frequency - This is how often the charge for rent will occur.

    • Amount - Enter the Amount of the rent charged each month.

    • Add Recurring Charge - If you have other recurring charges you want to include, select Add Recurring Charge, and from here, you can click + Add Another Charge to add additional charges as separate line items to the recurring rent schedule, such as pet rent or parking.

      (It is recommended that if you have other recurring charges that occur at the same frequency, you should add them to the recurring rent charge as additional line items.)

    • (Optional) You can schedule a Rent Increase by clicking on Schedule Future Rent Increase. This creates a future recurring rent charge that will replace the previous recurring rent schedule as of the start date you choose. You can use this to set up yearly rent increases for a multi-year lease for instance.

  3. Click Next to continue.

Step 5 - Add Any Move-in Fees

If you have any additional charges collected before or at move-in

(for example: security deposits, pet fees, etc), select Yes for Move-in Fees. Enter the following information:

  • Charge Date - Enter when you want the charge is due

  • What is this for - Select the account category that this charge is for (example: security deposit)

  • Add Description - (Optional) what is this charge for

  • Amount - Enter the amount of the charge

You can also enter other line item charges by clicking Add Another Move-in Fee.

Click Next to continue.

Note: When your tenant pays for these charges, if they are liability categories, the payment creates a deposit on the lease's Deposits tab. If this is an existing lease and you've already collected the deposit, read this page on how to record a past deposit that you have already collected.

Step 6 - Select a Late Fees Policy

For Late Fees, select whether or not you will be charging late fees on the lease. If you select Yes, select if you are using the property late fee settings or will be specifying late fees just for this lease.

Click Next to continue.

Note: Always make sure your late fee policy is the same as in your actual lease agreement and that it is compliant with your state and local laws. You can select between your default property late fee policy or specify your own for this lease. (Learn more about automatic late fees.) If required, a lease can have multiple late fee schedules.

Step 7 - Set the Lease Status (Draft Lease or Active Lease)

For the lease status, you have several options here to continue:

  • If this lease is currently active, click the Signed button and upload a copy of your signed lease for secure storage if you’d like. This will make the lease active on DoorLoop.

  • If this lease is not yet active, click Not Signed. This brings up signature options. You will have the choice to Sign Manually or Sign Electronically. This option sets the lease to Draft status until the lease is activated. (Learn how to activate a draft lease: Edit or Activate a Draft Lease)

  • If you send an signature request, there will be more steps at the end of the New Lease wizard. (Read this article to learn how to send a eSignature request: Create a New eSignature Request.)

Click Next to continue.

Step 8 - Review the Lease Information

Review the terms of the lease. Double check to make sure everything looks correct with the lease. If not, click Edit next to the section that is incorrect so they can be corrected.

Click Finish to end the New Lease wizard.

Tip: Once a lease is set to active, regardless if it's a current or future-dated lease, the tenant will be able to log into their tenant portal and begin making payments. This includes tenants who haven't moved in yet and need to pay their security deposits. The tenant just needs to make sure that they accept their tenant portal invite.

Next Steps

  • Customize Company Default Tenant Portal Settings - If you want your tenants to access the tenant portal and make payments online, you'll need to configure your tenant portal settings. Configuring the tenant portal is important in managing what your tenants will have access to and what kind of payment methods they'll be allowed to use to make their rent payments.

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