Tenants

This process will create a new lease and add new tenants if necessary. Leases can be added with dates in the past, present, and future, so long as its term does not overlap with another lease in the system. It can also add additional tenants to existing leases.

Buildium offers shortcuts to simplify lease creation and to save you time. For example, approved rental applicants can be moved into a brand new lease. If you see a button that looks helpful that isn't covered in the steps below, try it out.

Save time! Access this feature from any screen using the shortcuts menu.

1. Go to the Rentals menu.
2. Go to the Tenants page.

3. Click Add lease.

   

4. Complete the form.

If there is an existing lease on the unit, the software will give you a warning. You can add another tenant to the current lease or continue with the form to create a new lease. see "What if there's more than one tenant on a lease?"

1. Click Create lease.

 A recurring charge is an automated posting mechanism that charges the resident based on a pre-set frequency.

For example: Rent is due on the first of the month. I will add a monthly recurring charge for Rent Income so that I do not have to manually charge the resident each month.

Deposits and initial charges are one-time charges that will post to the resident’s lease ledger.

For example: The tenant owes a $1000 security deposit upon move-in. I will add a one-time charge for Security Deposit Liability.

One of the great features of Buildium is the tenant website. As your lease is created, you may want to invite your tenants to the tenant site and send a welcome letter.

If you want to create their tenant website accounts at a later date, you can do so.

Tenants on a lease share a single ledger. Each resident has a unique login to the resident site and each resident can enter their own unique online payment information for our integrated solution in the US.

Canadian customers using the CPA005 export file can only have one tenant per lease with online payment information.

1. Go to the Rentals menu.
2. Go to the Tenants page.
3. Click the tenant that you wish to change.
4. Click Edit tenant.

5. Make your changes in the form.

6. Click .

Use this feature to remove a tenant that was added to your account accidentally and the tenant needs to be completely removed.

1. Go to the Rentals menu.
2. Go to the Leases page.
3. Click into the lease that has the extra tenant.
4. Click the Tenants tab.

5. Click .

   

   If you don't see the icon, then that means there are financial transactions associated with this lease or an undeposited payment associated with the tenant. Delete those financial transactions first from the Financials tab and then try again.

6. Confirm that you want to delete the tenant.

   

1. Go to the Rentals menu.
2. Go to the Leases page.
3. Click the lease you want to end.

4. Click .

   

5. Confirm the move out date and tenant(s) who are moving out.

   

6. Click .

   Tenants who have been moved out are listed as former tenants. If all tenants on the lease have been moved out, the lease will end.

   

1. Go to the Rentals menu.
2. Go to the Leases page.

3. Click the lease you want to end.

   Buildium will warn you on the Leases page when the lease is getting close to expiration.

   

4. Click .

   

5. Complete any of the steps that are necessary for this particular lease closing.

   

   If you need to find this list of steps again, see "Suggested steps when moving out a tenant".

If you chose the incorrect unit when you added the lease, change the lease and correct the unit.

For example, Tim's lease is for unit 4A. He's always been in unit 4A in the real world. I accidentally added him to unit 3C in Buildium by mistake and I want to fix it.

If the tenant is moving to a new property or unit:

For example, Tim has lived in unit 4A for the last three years. He's moving across the hall to unit 4B this weekend.

1. Move out the tenant on the original unit.

2. Add a new lease for the new unit.

3. Transfer any deposits from the original lease to the new lease. The transaction history on the original lease cannot be transferred to the new lease. The tenant hub shows multiple leases, making it easy to navigate to the old history should that be required.