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Adding a new Rental Property

From Standout Property Manager Wiki Help

Revision as of 15:36, 25 November 2021 by Carl.Ogden (talk | contribs) (→‎Book Valuation: Added Office 365 integration information)
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Getting Started – Adding a new Rental Property

Standout has been designed to market and manage a property, either with No management whatsoever, rent collection or fully managed.

Guided Mode

Standout by default works in guided mode. Meaning property statuses will be shown in the order of what is expected. For example, when a property is created the only status available would be “Pre Valuation”, in free mode, all properties statues are display.


This part of the help system will describe the following:

  • Adding a property on the system including assigning a new Landlord and all the tabs associated with a property (both Sales/Rentals).
  • Booking a valuation
  • Accepting the valuation
  • Making the property available
  • Creating an applicant
  • Booking a viewing
  • Making an offer
  • Adding a second tenant
  • Creating an agreement
  • How Financials work
  • Tabs

Displayed above the property details, tab elements will be shown (and hidden) depending on a property contract etc. These tabs will allow different sections to be shown. We recommend that if you’ve amended information in a tab, press Save property before proceeding.

Identification

The first area to be completed should be the property header information, this would be a unique reference (either type your own or allow the system to generate one), select the branch (if applicable), date the property can be marketed and if you’re going to market this property as a “Featured” property on your website and/or Portals, this can be changed at a later date if required.

Address

Next enter the address details of the property, enter the Postcode of the property – if that Postcode exists in our database, either partial details will be populated or a drop down list of all the known addresses will be available for selection. Once selected, the data will be populated into the address fields – if you wish to edit these fields, you can do so at any time. If known/required, the local council can be selected for this property. If for any reason the address is not picked up from the post code then you will need to enter the full address manually.


If you subscribe to the Zoopla portal for Display Address to be recognised by Zoopla, it must have 3 sections, by default this would be the “Road Name, Town, First part of the Postcode” ie “High Street, Town, M26”.


Mapping is an integral part of Standout and property searching, a properties Latitude and Longitude will be returned but, if you wish to move the marker on Google Maps, then use the Set Map button to move the marker to the required spot, clicking Close will then update the Latitude/Longitude accordingly.


As above, the Streetview can also be amended but, please be aware that Google may not have mapped new houses/estates so a close location may have to be chosen until their views have been updated. Once you’re happy with the view of the property, click close to save the amendments. Additionally, you can turn this option off by settings the Include street view to No.

Owners

Current Owners

As this is a new property, No owners selected will be displayed.

Add Owner

When you start typing a name (at least two characters), existing contacts within Standout will be displayed. To add a new contact, click the link “Create a new contact”

Adding a new landlord

Enter the landlords’ details in this new tab. The minimum amount of information needed to complete this task are:

           Title

           First name

           Surname

           Contact type – by default Landlord will be ticked (or checked)

           Telephone or Mobile number

           Email address – we believe this to be the most important as Standout can email contacts important letters, notices, and general emails.

           If the Landlord is a Company, enter the company name.

           Address – address where the Landlord resides or their business address.

Once you’ve clicked Create contact, you can close this tab and return to the Add owners to enter the name details of your new landlord.

If there are multiple landlords for a property, you will need to repeat this process. Where multiple landlords exist, a primary can be selected.

Basics

Contract

The basic information refers to the contract and property information. Contracts that can be chosen are “For Sale/To Let/Auction”. For this example, we’re choosing “To Let” (each option displays and hides options for that contract.

Managed

Managed options are “No/Rent Collection/Yes”, for this document, “Yes” will be selected.

Class

Classification is the type of property being Let, “Residential/Commercial/Business”, “Residential” will be selected.

New Build

Pertaining to the property itself, is this classed as a New Build Property, either Yes or No.

Tenure

Is the Tenure of the building “Freehold/Leasehold/Commonhold/Share of Freehold/Flying Freehold/Share Transfer”.

Residential type

A list of available residential property types, based upon the rules given by Rightmove.

Property style

The type of property – “Detached/Link Detached/Semi Detached/Terrace”, based upon the rules given by Rightmove.

Year built

The year (if known) the building was built.

Bedrooms

How many bedrooms has the property? This is required!

Bathrooms

How many bathrooms has the property? This is required!

Reception rooms

How many reception rooms as the property? This is required!

Price

Should your Landlord already have prices for their property, this section will allow you to enter those figures. However, this section can be left blank until you’ve visited the property and completed a valuation.

Currency

If you’ve configured Standout for multiple currencies, then you will have the option to choose, otherwise, it will be the standard (£ GBP).

Flash

A message displayed on your website, generally on the main photograph of the property.

Let price

The amount of the rental

Price qualifier

Choose from the list of available qualifiers

Post price message

A free text box to enter a message after the price on your website

Let period

When will the rent be due – Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly/Annually/Per 4 Weeks/Per Person Per Week

Bond price

Known to some as a deposit – the bond should be paid by the tenant prior to their agreement start and held in your deposit scheme provider.

Fees

Contractual arrangement

The options available are Joint Agency/Multiple Agency/Sole Agency” and are set whether the Landlord has the property marketed by yourselves and/or other agencies.

Contractual fee split

When not a Sole agency, you can select how the fees will be split between the agencies.

Management Fee

How much will be charged to the Landlord for your services, either a percentage of the rent or a fixed fee.

Finders Fee

If you charge a Landlord for finding a tenant(s), then enter the fee.

Other agency name/Contractual details

These fields will be displayed when not a sole agency for you to enter the information.


Once the above has been completed, click the Save property. Any errors will be shown at the top of the display and will need to be resolved before a successful save.

Book Valuation

When editing your recently entered property, you can click the button, located at the lower right of the screen OR in the More actions menu.


When clicked, you will be shown the Diary view, normally showing the current working week, choose the day/time when you will visit the property and double click the time slot – e.g. Wednesday at 6pm.


The appointment form will be displayed, showing pre-populated information, including a small google map showing the property location. Should you wish to change anything, you can at this point.


If you are NOT visiting but a colleague, you can choose their details in the drop down select for “For” otherwise, your name will be displayed. If you've logged into Office 365, this appointment will be created in the Outlook Calendar for the attendee.


You can then choose whether to email the owner, if you do, click so a tick appears, they will receive an email confirming your visit.

Letter selection

As you’ve booked a valuation, Standout has master letters available for you to create and either email or download/print. They are:

  •            Potential Listing Sheet
  •            Rental Take On/Valuation Checklist
  •            Valuation Appointment

All the above can be duplicated and personalised in the Administration/Letter Templates section.


If none are required, click “Back to property without creating letter” at the bottom.

Property Status Update

As you’ve booked a valuation appointment, the property now has a status of “Awaiting Decision”. The only other status available is “Cancelled” should a Landlord wish not to use your services.

Confirm/reschedule valuation

Once you’ve valued the property, you can then use this option to either:

  •            Confirm the information
  •            Reschedule a new valuation appointment

Confirming the valuation

Edit the property and choose either “Confirm/Reschedule valuation” at the bottom of the screen, or the matching button on the “More actions” menu.

Contractual Agreement

Confirm the agreement – Sole Agency/Joint Agency/Multiple Agency.

Managed

Taken from the previous screen, this should match your previous choice – for this document, Yes is chosen.

Let period

Taken from the previous screen, this should match your previous choice – for this document, Monthly is chosen.

Initial Market Price

Enter the valuation price that you feel is the market value, the minimum and maximum that you feel your agency would accept.

Fee

The period fee your agency charges, which will be either a fixed fee or a percentage.

Finders fee

The fee you charge to the landlord for finding a tenant

Bond price

The amount required to hold in the deposit scheme until the end of the tenancy.

Valuation Advice

A text box to allow you to enter any additional information that you feel the landlord should be aware of.

Cancel

If you want to stop doing this and return to the property

Reschedule valuation appointment

Ignore all the above if the appointment did not occur and you wish to reschedule.

Confirm valuation

Save the information provided and return to the property.

Letter Production

You will be offered the option to create a letter stating your valuation details, which allows you to amend, along with your agency terms and conditions.


As with all letters created in Standout, Document will download a Word document, Email will email it to your landlord (subject to an email address in the landlords’ details) or Both.


If you do not wish to create the letter, choose “<- Back to property without creating letters”.

Property Status Update

As you have now completed the above, the property status should now be set to “Valuation Confirmed”. Available statuses from this dropdown are “On hold/Available/Withdrawn/Valuation Confirmed”.

Additional information prior to placing a property on the market

Before placing a property on the market, the more information provided regarding the property, the more likely a property will either be sold or let.

Secondary details

Various fields that are self-explanatory but to help:

Agency specific features

You can select entries from the drop-down list (items such as Children considered, Cul-de-sac, Double Glazed etc). This list is editable in the Administration part of the system.

Additional features

Floors                                      select from the list provided

Usual entrance floor               select from the list provided

Parking                                    select from the list provided

Assigned parking space(s)      enter the details regarding the space(s)

Heating                                   enter the details

Accessibility                            enter the details

Outside space                         enter the details

Burglar alarm                          Yes/No

Dishwasher                             Yes/No

Smoke Alarm                          Yes/No

Carbon monoxide alarm         Yes/No

Inside Area/Land area

Enter the areas and Standout can convert between feet/Yards/Meter squared/Acres/Hectares

Running costs

Rates information                   enter the details

Council tax band                     select from the list provided

Utilities

Average gas cost                     enter the amount (if known)

Average electricity cost          enter the amount (if known)

Average water rates               enter the amount (if known)


Annual fees

Ground rent fee                      if applicable

Estate management fee         if applicable

Insurance fees                        if applicable

Descriptions

Brief description          It's important to include a brief description, as this is often what is shown on your own website—and on portals—before someone clicks to view more details.


Full description            It may be thought that the full description will be used to enter a complete and thorough description of the property, rooms, outside and any other information pertinent to the property. And whilst this is true, we recommend using the Floors & rooms (see below for further information) to fully describe these rooms.


Bullet points                Add up to 20 bullet points regarding the property


Floors & rooms           You can detail the property using floors and rooms, this will allow you to enter a floor or room name, the dimensions, a detailed description, up to four photographs and if required, for that room to be excluded from a brochure.

Please note: photographs should be uploaded prior, in the Media tab.

Default rooms & floors can be created in “Administration/Branch/Default rooms” – such as Agency notes etc.

                                 

  An example would be:

  •                                    Ground floor
  •                                    Front Garden (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Entrance hall (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Reception (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Dining room (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Kitchen (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Conservatory (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    First floor
  •                                    Hallway (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Bedroom One (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    En-suite (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Bedroom Two (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Bedroom Three (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Bathroom (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Rear Garden (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Garden studio (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Garage (giving a description/photo/dimensions)
  •                                    Agency Notes (place your notes in the description)


Additional descriptions

Directions                    By clicking the Directions button, Standout will calculate the

directions from your branch office to property.


Location                      Enter any additional information regarding the property location, not entered in either the descriptions or rooms & floors.


Vendor View/Opinion Enter additional information provided by the landlord/vendor regarding the property.

Media

General media

Photographs                upload all the property photos and order them how you’d like them to be viewed online

           Brochure Media          order the photos if different from above

           Floor plans                  upload floorplans into this section

           Floorplan URL              If the floorplan is hosted by a 3rd party

           Video URL                   If you’ve a video on YouTube etc, paste the URL here

Rental

Rental options

Shared Property                      this document does not go into HMO properties, see our document “Marketing HMO properties”

Rental Features          

Let type                       select from the drop-down list

Furnished                    select from the drop-down list

Minimum Term           enter the minimum length the landlord is prepared to accept

Contract length           enter the contract length

Pets allowed                Yes/No

Smokers considered    Yes/No

Benefits considered    Yes/No

Sharers considered     Yes/No

Rent includes              Up to 1000 characters describing any additional inclusions


Bills included               Self-explanatory Yes/No options included within the rental amount

Property finance information

Mortgaged property               Yes/No

                                               If the landlord wishes for you to know this information, you can record Mortgage Provider, term, price, date, monthly repayment.

Utility providers

Gas/Electricity/Water             Select from a list of providers (if known)


Inventory                                 Add inventory items that will be in the property at the start of the tenancy recording  - room, item name, condition, quantity, value, additional notes and a photograph


Repairs                                    Once a tenancy in active, you can report a repair and allocate a contractor. Selecting contractor type, contractor, date reported, report to, date passed to contractor, date to be fixed, date fixed, contact method (how the tenant reported the repair), details of the problem, additional staff notes (internal only), quoted cost, fixed cost, signed off by agent/tenant.


Recurring payments                These payments generate a payment request to the tenant, and are intended to be used for things like extra car parking space, gardening services, window cleaning etc, automatically applied to active agreements and can be seen in the Financials

tab


Service appointments             These are appointments for services that are booked for this property.


Rent reviews                           These are rent review appointments that are booked for this property.

Certificates

EPC                                          If the EPC is required, you can upload a certificate, otherwise, choose the EEC and EEP values to then Generate EPC certificate for the property. Also, when you place the expiry date into Standout, a diary appointment will be created on that date reminding you about its expiry.


Additional Certificates             enter the Certificate reference, expiry date and if you hold a copy, select copy held. As above, an expiry date reminder will be created.


** Whilst there are other tabs, this guide will now skip them as they are covered in the property help guide **


Placing the property on the Market

When your landlord confirms your valuation, you will need to edit the property to place the property online to start promoting:

Important fields

           Let price                      set the let price to what has been agreed

           Status                          change to Available


           Click the Save Property button


           Letter production        a letter named “Property On Market” can be created, if

Required, and downloaded, emailed or both.


Depending on the date you have specified in “Date available” the property will either go live as of that date or, if the date is in the future, the property will not be uploaded to any website or portal until that date.

Money Laundering

If you’ve configured Money Laundering (Administration/Branch/Money Laundering provider) you will have 30 days to obtain relevant documentation (see Contact/Money Laundering to record identification).

Booking a viewing

When a potential tenant contacts your agency regarding the property, you will need to input their details onto Standout. Ensure that you choose “Applicant/Tenant”, enter their email and current address. This will ensure you can select them when booking the viewing.

How to book a viewing

           Contact           click More Actions / Book viewing / Quick search property / Choose the appointment date/time and whether to email Owner/Tenant and if the Landlord confirmed.


           Contact list      click Edit / Book viewing / Quick search property / Choose the appointment date/time and whether to email Owner/Tenant and if the Landlord confirmed.


           Property list     click Edit / Book viewing / Quick search property / Choose the appointment date/time and whether to email Owner/Tenant and if the Landlord confirmed.


           Property          click the button “Book viewing“ or “More actions / Book viewing” – you can choose to either book a tenant viewing appointment or a staff viewing appointment (for yourself or another member of staff). Choose the tenant and the appointment date/time and whether to email Owner/Tenant and if the Landlord confirmed.

Viewings/Offers

Once a viewing has occurred, you can update viewing details. To do this, edit the property, choose tab “Viewing / offers”.  For simplicity, we will continue with the tenant making an offer to progress the property to a Let state and creating a tenancy agreement.


Options available when updating a past viewing are:


Book viewing                                      book a subsequent viewing (if required)

Add viewer feedback                          if the viewer has given feedback, enter it here

Send feedback request email              send an email to a viewer asking for feedback

Make offer                                          enter offer details given by viewer

Making an offer

Enter the offer made by the viewer (for rentals this is usually the asking price), you can select their financial position, if there are any additional parties (their partners), offer conditions, our advice and then click Make offer.

Letter selection

Due to the Make Offer being the same for Rental and Sales, Standout has two master letters aimed at Make Rental and Make Sales. Each one can be customised. Select Make Rental. Choose your letter format (Document/Email/Both).

Accepting an offer

Depending on what your landlord says, you can Reject an offer, however, for this document we will be accepting the offer to proceed further.


Click the “Accept” text and then click Ok to the popup confirmation.

Letter Production

Letter production uses the “Offer Accepted” letter and will allow you to create a letter to all tenants and landlords, with the standard options to Document/Email/Both.

Property Status

When accepting the above, the property Status will change to “Application Made”, options available are “On Hold/Available/Application Made/Let/Withdrawn”.

Creating an Agreement

Once you’ve completed your due diligence (credit checking, money laundering etc) and are ready to create the agreement, edit the property and choose the Rental Agreements button.


For a new property, there will be no agreements, but as you let and re-let a property, a history of agreements will be displayed at the top.


By default the agreement will be created for the tenant that you accepted with their offer.


You will then be able to create the Agreement details:


Agreement date                                  The date of the agreement (usual todays date)

Reference                                           The reference you give to your agreement for this Property/tenant/landlord

Let period                                           How often is rent due

Initial period (Monthly)                      How long will the agreement be in place (12 = one year)

Start date                                            When will the tenant move in

End date                                              Usually calculated using Start date and Initial period

Rolling contract                                  Will the tenancy agreement stay in place after the End date

Auto Update Tenancy Address           Do you want Standout to replace the address held on the tenant details with this property address

Let price                                              How much rent for each period

Bond price                                          How much is required for bond (deposit)

Finders Fee                                         How much is the landlord paying for your agency for finding a new tenant

First Payment Due                              When is the first payment due (then occurs on that day each period

Payment Terms                                   Zero by default, meaning if a payment is not received on the day specified, it’s overdue

Days to pay landlord                           2 by default. How many days after receiving payment, will the landlord expect payment from your agency

Send a reminder                                 How many days prior to rent being due, Standout can send an email and/or sms reminding the tenant

Send reminder by                               Disabled by default, select from the options available.

                                                           Note: SMS requires your account to be in credit, see Adminstration/SMS

Tenancy Deposit Scheme                   Which TDS provider you use

Deposit Scheme Reference                The reference number for this agreement

Additional Clauses                              Any additional clauses to this agreement, that differ from your standard agreement

Initial Inspection visit                          If someone from your agency is to visit the property, choose a date and staff member

Guarantor                                           If the tenant provides a guarantor, choose them

Fee details                                           The fee is taken from the previous settings but if you wish to change, then enter a new fee, select the type and when the fee is due.

Letter production

Standout will now create the Agreement Tenancy, populated with all the information entered in your agreement. You may amend this document prior to creating a Document/Emailing or Both.


You will be returned to the property agreement screen, now a new tab will be displayed called “Financials”.

How to recover from creating an incorrect agreement

Should you make an error with an agreement, you can perform one of two actions, End Agreement will end the agreement, leaving the agreement in your property/agreements history. Alternatively, if this agreement is no longer required or you do not wish for it to display, click “Delete Agreement” to remove it completely.

Meter readings

Standout can store the meter readings for the start and end of the tenancy, these can either be obtained by a staff member visit or the tenant relaying them to you, along with the providers.

Financials

This tab will display three additional tabs:


Figures            in a spreadsheet type format, all the transactions associated with this agreement.

           Breakdown      This breakdown counts and sums the various payment types. Note that any discrepancy shown may be due to a pending landlord payment, and will disappear when financials are up to date.

           Graph              This graph will allow you to more easily see any irregularities with the transactions for this agreement.

Figures

The first section shows an overview of the following information:


           Tenant owes you

           Landlord owes you

           Total agency earnings (excludes bank charges and VAT)

           Total landlord payments

Generating a statement for your landlord

When your landlord requests a statement, you can quickly and easily create one from here. Choose the Start date, End date or choose one of the Date helpers from the drop-down list and click Generate Statement.

Report details

You will be shown the following columns:


           Date

           Description

           Reference

           Status

           Fee

           Amount

Output options

Two options are then available to you are:


           Download Statement             downloads a copy for you in PDF format

           Email PDF to contact              emails a copy to the landlord (subject to an email address being stored)

Record payment

When you either send or receive a payment, you record that payment in this section. Standout where relevant, will automatically assign the payment to any partial or unpaid items.


The entry details are:


           Direction                     is the payment From or To

           Party                           who is the payment from/to

           Payment method        how did they pay?

           Payment type             Is the payment Rent/Other/Bond

           Amount                       How much is the payment

           Date                            What date is on your bank statement

           Reference                   What is the reference on your bank statement

           Description                 Any additional information you wish to record


Click the Save button to confirm the above details.

Example:

An agreement created on the 13/10/2021, tenancy starting 15/10/2021, Bond of £495.00, Monthly rent of £595.00 with a Finder’s fee of £125.00 (plus VAT – if applicable) and monthly management fees of £60.00 (plus VAT – if applicable).


How to allocate the first month’s payments from the tenant and paying the landlord on the next working day.

Entering payments

At the start of a tenancy, subject to a reliable tenant, you should enter the following details of payments from the tenant and payment to your landlord:

Direction From Method Type Amount Date Ref Description
From Tenant Bacs Bond 495.00 14/10/2021 ABC123 Payment from Tenant
From Tenant Bacs Rent 595.00 15/10/2021 ABC123 Payment from Tenant
To Landlord Bacs Rent 373.00 18/10/2021 LL-001 Payment to Landlord – Rent minus fees


When you enter the first months rent payment, Standout will allocate the Rent Due transaction paid, it will also mark the Invoice to landlord paid, if there is an Invoice to landlord for the Finders fee, it will take that into account, therefore, prior to your final entry above, the transactions should display as:-

Date Description Status Fee Amount Tenant Balance
15/10/21 Payment from Tenant OK £0.00 £595.00 £0.00
15/10/21 Invoice to landlord

Management Fee

Paid £60.00

plus VAT of £12.00

£0.00 £595.00
15/10/21 Rent Due Paid £0.00 £595.00 -£595.00
14/10/21 Payment for Bond OK £0.00 £495.00 £0.00
13/10/21 Bond request Paid £0.00 £495.00 -£495.00
13/10/21 Invoice to landlord

Finder’s fee

Unpaid £125.00

plus VAT of £25.00

£0.00 £0.00


On Monday 18th, you pay your landlord the above amount, record it with:

Direction From Method Type Amount Date Ref Description
To Landlord Bacs Rent 373.00 18/10/2021 LL-001 Payment to Landlord – Rent minus fees


As of the 18-10-2021, the balances would be:


           Tenant owes £0.00

           Landlord is owed £0.00

           Total agency fees £185.00 (excluding bank charges and VAT)

           Total Landlord payments = £373.00

Manually marking payments

If you have a transaction that has not been automatically allocated AND all the balances are £0.00, choose the Actions button, then select “Mark as paid”. This will mark this transaction as paid.

Viewing options

You can choose to either display or not display the following transactions:

Landlord / Tenant

                       From

                       To

                       Charges

                       Rent

                       All or None

Transactions list

All the transactions listed with the following information:


           Date                            Transaction date

           Description                 A description of the transaction

           Status                          Payment status

           Fee                              If the transaction is a fee, with a description (if any) displayed below.

           Amount                       Amount of the transaction (if not a fee)

           Tenant Balance           Rolling figure of the amount owed by a Tenant

Actions

           Mark Paid                    If the transaction has been paid but showing unpaid, use this.

           Dispute                        Mark the transaction in dispute

           Print invoice                Only shown on Invoices, creates a Letter based on Landlord

Invoice or Tenant Invoice

           Delete                         Delete the transaction if it is an error

Breakdown

This breakdown counts and sums the various payment types. Note that any discrepancy shown may be due to a pending landlord payment and will disappear when financials are up to date.


The information show is:


           Type                            The transaction type

           Count                          How many of these transactions

           Sum                             A total of these transactions

           Expected                     What is expected (if anything)

           Difference                   What the difference is (if shown)

Graph

The graph is designed to allow you to see any irregularities more easily with the transactions for this agreement.

Diary – Rent reminders

Once an agreement is in place and started, Standout will automatically place an all day event reminder in your diary, on the day rents are due. If you open the appointment, you can quickly jump to property/contact/agreement as these will be displayed.


Standout creates these reminders monthly on the last day of a month/first day of the month, for that month.