In July 2023, TurboTenant began supporting multi-unit properties, so you can add apartments, townhomes, duplexes, and room rentals in a condensed property rather than multiple properties. This article will help you to adopt and utilize this functionality to organize your portfolio's management in TurboTenant.
If you have multiple unit properties represented as individual properties in TurboTenant, please keep reading.
What this Means for You
If you feel you do not need any multi-unit property support, we will continue supporting the old properties you have created, so you don't need to do anything if you do not want to. All your property history, leases, and associated tenants will be maintained.
If you're a landlord with properties that contain multiple units or rooms, this change probably has you excited. We are, too.
But it's important we are careful to prevent data loss and maintain continuity: for your records and for your tenants.
If you created units as separate "properties" in TurboTenant before July 2023:
Do not delete or replace any property that contains tenant, lease, or payment history - doing so may result in lost data.
Contact our support team before making changes. We’re here to help you transition and ensure your setup works smoothly with properties created prior to July 2023.
Changes to the Properties Views
The Old Properties Setup
The old properties set up is still supported and will continue to work as-is for your single-family, single-condo unit, or otherwise single-unit properties.
Old Properties Index Page
As you can see, this is a duplex represented as two individual properties in TurboTenant.
Old Property Page
When you open one, you see the standard action menu related to the property, including the tenant and lease you have for that property.
The New Properties Setup
New Properties Index Page
This is the same duplex, represented in the new setup. As you can see, there is only one address, and both units are represented within it. You can quickly access specific leases or units by clicking on the links.
New Property Page
This is our duplex represented by the new property page. You can now manage a plethora of things at this higher level:
Payments - to understand how your property is performing as a whole.
Maintenance - for maintenance tasks that impact the entire building.
Expenses - For expenses that impact the entire property.
Documents - For documents related to the entire property
New Unit- or Room-Level Page
The new unit-level page looks a lot like the Old Property Page, and you can do many of the same things here. Most of the information here is also available to the tenant on the lease for the unit or property.
You can continue to manage payments, maintenance, expenses, and documents at this level where it makes sense. For instance, a lease agreement probably should be stored at the unit level, whereas your landlord insurance documentation should be stored at the property level.
Creating a New Multi-Unit Property
Start in the same place as you always have: on the properties page, and select the "Add New Property button in the top right.
We will ask you what type of property you are adding. The top three will all be represented as a single unit or rental. The bottom three will be represented as multi-unit properties. When creating a parent property for multiple units, follow these steps:
Select "small multi-family" or the appropriate multi-unit property type.
Enter the main property address and details.
Add your units and specify their details.
If needed, assign existing lease profiles to maintain historical records.
If you intend to rent out rooms within any of the six types of properties, select that option.
We can represent rooms either immediately underneath a single property (think a single-family house that you rent out bedrooms in), or within a unit (think of a large unit in a duplex that you can rent out all three bedrooms separately). In either case, you should check "yes."
In any case, we ask for the property address. Then, if you've indicated that this will be a multi-unit property, you will see the above screen prompting you to enter units and rooms - in this case, we have indicated that this property will have room rentals. Here is a duplex with a large unit above, including three rooms that we will rent out individually, and a second one-bedroom unit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I have to do this now?
A: Nope! If you are happy with your current set-up as is, no action is required.
Q: What does the term 'rental' mean in TurboTenant?
A: A 'rental' is any individually leasable space. Some examples:
A single-family home rented on its own is 1 rental (an address like 123 Main St).
A single-family home with 3 rooms for rent has 3 rentals (an address like 123 Main St with rooms like Master Bedroom, Back Bedroom or Basement Bedroom).
Apartment Building (123 Main St Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3)
Townhouse - 123 Main and 134 Main (shared building)
A duplex with one individual unit and one larger unit that is rented out by room like this example is 4 units. See below.
One unit + one unit with three rooms = 4 individually leasable spaces.
Q: What are the differences between a room and a unit?
A: A unit and a room can both be rentals. Some differences include:
Units can include more than one bedroom.
A unit can contain rooms, but a room cannot contain units.
However, they are similar in these ways:
Both units and rooms must be under a main property address.
Both units and rooms can have a lease with tenants.
Exception: Units that have rooms cannot be leased and do not count as rentals.
Q: Can I add a room or unit to a property?
It depends. If you are creating a new property or signing up for the merge, units and rooms can be added then. If you want to add additional rooms or units, you can do that later too. For multi-unit properties, you can add or edit units under the parent property by selecting "New Unit" within the property profile. If you need to significantly redevelop the property structure and it doesn't have a tenant history, you may consider recreating the property with the correct configuration. Remember to never delete properties with existing tenants or lease history.
What you cannot do on your own in TurboTenant, for the near future, is add rooms to a single-family home, townhouse, or condo that you had previously added to TurboTenant. To accomplish that, please get in touch with [email protected].