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Creating leases

Leases are the core of your tenancy management. They track rent amounts, dates, and form the basis for payment tracking, notices, and evidence bundles.

Creating a new lease​

Step 1: Navigate to leases​

  1. Click Leases in the sidebar (or use the dashboard quick link)
  2. Click Create Lease

Step 2: Select property and unit​

  1. Choose the Property from the dropdown
  2. Select the Unit within that property
note

Units with active leases won't appear in the list. End the current lease first.

Step 3: Select tenants​

  1. Choose one or more tenants
  2. For new tenants, click Add New Tenant to create them inline
  3. Add co-tenant emails if the lease has multiple tenants (used for e-signature)
  4. Add co-landlord emails if the lease has multiple landlords — up to 3 co-landlords can be added for multi-party signing

Step 4: Enter lease terms​

FieldRequiredDescription
Start dateYesWhen the tenancy begins
End dateNoFor fixed-term leases
Lease typeYesFixed-term or Month-to-month
Monthly rentYesBase rent amount
Rent due dayYesDay of month rent is due (1–28)
Payment methodNoHow tenant typically pays
Zero-rent leases

Monthly rent can be set to $0 for arrangements such as caretaker units. Zero-rent leases are fully supported.

Step 5: Appendix and additional details​

  • Parking — Space number, monthly cost
  • Rent breakdown — Base rent, parking, utilities
  • Utilities included — Select which ones
  • Key deposit — Amount is configurable; defaults can be set in Settings → OSL Defaults
  • LMR deposit — Auto-fills to match the monthly rent amount by default

Step 6: Generate OSL and send for signing​

After saving, you can:

  1. Generate the Ontario Standard Lease — A compliant OSL PDF is created from your lease data
  2. Edit and regenerate — Preview the OSL, edit details, and regenerate if needed
  3. Send for e-signature — Use multi-party signing to collect signatures from all parties

See E-signatures for the full signing workflow.

Lease types​

Fixed-term lease​

  • Has a specific end date
  • Automatically converts to month-to-month after end date
  • Common for first-year leases

Month-to-Month​

  • No end date
  • Continues until properly terminated
  • Common for renewals after initial term

Lease status​

StatusDescription
ActiveCurrently in effect
UpcomingStart date is in the future
EndedTerminated or completed
Month-to-MonthActive, converted from fixed-term

Other ways to create leases​

From upload OSL​

The fastest way to create a lease:

  1. Go to Leases → Upload OSL
  2. Upload your signed lease PDF
  3. Review extracted data
  4. Confirm to create property, tenant, and lease

See Uploading OSL for details.

From property page​

  1. Go to Properties → Select property
  2. Click on a vacant unit
  3. Click Create Lease
  4. Property and unit are pre-selected

From DoorLoop​

Import existing leases from DoorLoop (Enterprise plan only):

  1. Go to Integrations → DoorLoop
  2. Select leases and tenants to import
  3. Confirm the import — the OSL is locked automatically and auto-consent is applied

Imported leases are locked to prevent accidental OSL regeneration. See DoorLoop integration.

Bulk import​

Import multiple leases from a CSV or XLSX file. See Data import.

Editing leases​

  1. Go to Leases → Select the lease
  2. Click Edit
  3. Update the fields
  4. Click Save
Rent Changes

To increase rent, use the N1 notice generator rather than editing directly. This ensures compliance with the 90-day notice requirement.

Stale OSL after edits​

If the lease already has a generated Ontario Standard Lease PDF and you edit an OSL-relevant field (rent, start date, due day, etc.) on an unsigned or declined lease, the system marks the document as out of date.

An amber banner appears on the Overview tab. Always click Regenerate Standard Lease before downloading or sharing the document to ensure it reflects your latest changes.

See Stale OSL detection for details.

Ending a lease​

Proper termination​

  1. Navigate to the lease
  2. Click End Lease
  3. Enter the end date
  4. Optionally add a reason

What happens​

  • Lease status changes to "Ended"
  • Unit becomes "Vacant"
  • Payment tracking stops
  • Historical data is preserved

Best practices​

  1. Use accurate dates - Match the signed lease
  2. Record rent correctly - Affects arrears calculations
  3. Upload the OSL - Keep a copy attached to the lease
  4. Update when terms change - But use N1 for rent increases

Next steps​