RentHQ Software Blog

Notification updates in the latest release

Posted on February 25, 2024
Based on customer feedback, the weekly notification email now has the additional reminder of tenants who are going to have a rent increase within the next 7 to 14 days. Because tenants need to be notified well in advance of a rent increase, they often forget by the time it comes around. So this gives you the opportunity to contact them and give them a gentle reminder to avoid them going into arrears.

A small change has also been added to the daily Xero Import notification email. The subject line of this email now lets you know if all the records were successfully processed. If they have, then there is no need to open the email. It is only a small change, but it saves time.

The Trial Balance report, which lists the amount due to be paid to owners at the next disbursement, now also includes owners where the disbursement amount is zero, but they are an open owner. This could mean the owner had a vacant property.

Multiple updates based on your suggestions

Posted on February 10, 2024
Thanks for all the suggestions coming through.

One of the most voted for requests was to be able to generate inspection letters in bulk, instead of going to each inspection and creating them one at a time. People commented that they often do multiple days worth of letters at the same time, so being able to create them in bulk will save time. So now you can create the letters from the mail merge screen using the Generate button. You will then be presented with a list of inspections instead of tenants, and you get to tick the inspections you want to generate a letter for.

While we were on the Mail Merge screen, I also decided to add a filter to the letters list screen. A lot of people have lots of letter templates now, so finding a particular one is made easier if you can type a few characters from the letter name.

You can also now print a tenancy reference from the reference details screen.

Integrate Your Inspections with Google Calendar

Posted on December 13, 2023
Thanks to Jason for suggesting a way to streamline inspection management. His request was to sync inspections with Google Calendar to make scheduling more efficient and prevent any double bookings. With inspections often planned weeks in advance, this integration allows users to easily see their availability for additional meetings (or maybe golf?).

Now, RentHQ users can link their accounts to Google Calendar on an individual basis, ensuring that only their designated inspections populate their calendar.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Navigate to Functions/Setup/Security Logins.
2. Select the user's login and access the Calendar tab.
3. Click on 'Sign in with Google' to connect your RentHQ user account to your Google Calendar.

Connect to RentHQ to Google Calendar

Once linked, if you have multiple calendars, return to the login screen to designate the specific calendar for your inspections.

Choose your Google Calendar

When creating inspections, it's important to select the appropriate 'inspector' to link the inspection correctly. For instance, in the images shown above with two logins, the Google calendar is linked to 'Login 1.' Therefore, ensure that the designated inspector is selected during inspection creation. Inspections without an assigned inspector won't be linked to any Google calendars.

Choose your inspector when creating an inspection

Remember that on the property details screen, you can specify the default 'Property Manager' for that property. Then when creating inspections, it will select that property manager as the default Inspector for that property.

Choose your inspector when creating an inspection

Important notes:
- Previously scheduled inspections before linking to Google Calendar won't display in your calendar; only new or modified inspections will.
- Any changes made to inspection dates and times within RentHQ will sync with your Google Calendar. However, modifications made solely in Google Calendar won't reflect in RentHQ. Therefore, it's recommended to manage inspections exclusively within RentHQ for accurate synchronization.

More Suggestion Updates for December

Posted on December 6, 2023
As per last month, a lot of enhancement suggestions have continues to roll in, and more of them have been completed. This is what was release in version 3.9.0.

- A lot of suggestions were made regarding adding column XYZ to screen ABC. And all these suggestions wanted different columns. If I added every column to every screen that was suggested the screen could become cluttered with columns other people might not want. So instead you can now choose which additional columns you want to add to your screens. This has been done by adding a 3 dot button to the top right of certain screens. Not all screens have these additional columns. By clicking the 3 dot button you can choose which columns to add or remove again. This applies to the computer it was created on, so different people in the same office can choose to show the columns they want to see.
Choose your own custom columns

- A change has been made to the transaction import screen. You can start an import, then move to a different menu and come back to the import again, and it will be the same as when you left it. This means you wont have to start all over again. Thanks to Nicola for the suggestion.

- A new custom message has been created, allowing you to add a new message into the body of all tenant invoices, including extra charge invoices. Go to Functions/Setup/Options and then click on the Messages tab to enter the tenant invoice message. This message could contain payment instructions or bank account details. Thanks to Richard for the suggestion.

- You can now record a transaction in the cashbook screen, selecting a closed property, but only when the closed property has a tenant who is marked as 'Closed - Allow Transaction Entry'. Note that the closed properties will appear at the bottom of the property list. Thanks to Garth for the suggestion.

New Updates from Customer Suggestions

Posted on November 15, 2023
Thanks again for all the suggestions we have received.

The latest update, version 3.8.9 on the login screen, has the following enhancements.

When creating an inspection, you can now choose to either select the property or the tenant. If you select the tenant, the associated property will be automatically selected for you. If you choose to select the property, the list of available tenants will be limited to only those tenants currently occupying the selected property. You will still need to select a tenant, as they are the one responsible for the property. This can save time for those property managers with a lot of properties, who cant remember which tenant occupies the property they want to inspect. Thanks to Michelle for the suggestion.

The length of an extra charge description has been increased from 50 characters to 250 characters. This will provide more room to enter a detailed description of what the tenant is being charged for. Various reports which print these descriptions have been modified to accommodate the larger content. When required, the text will wrap across multiple lines. Thanks to Roger for this suggestion

Multiple Updates for October 2023

Posted on October 27, 2023
A whole host of changes have been made in the latest release of RentHQ based on user feedback.

You can now send a TXT/SMS message to contractors for work orders. This is in addition to the ability to email the job to the contractor. This is great for contractors who are on the go and don't have time to stop and check their emails. Thanks to Nicole for the suggestion.
Send work orders as text messages

You can now add a disbursement reference to the owner details screen. This reference will then get exported when generating a bank import file for banks that support it. The reference is found on the owner details screen, disbursements tab. Thanks to Lee for the suggestion.

A new Australian BAS (Business Activity Statement) report has been created. This is similar to the New Zealand GST Calculation report, but designed with our Australian friends in mind. This report is found on the Reports screen under 'Analysis Reports'. Thanks to Maya for the suggestion.

The attachment list for Tenants, Owners and Work Orders now has an additional 'Online' column. This indicates if the tenant or owner is able to view these files from their online portals. Not available on mobile apps. Thanks to Lee for the suggestion.
Show attachments 'online' status for each file

On the Extra Charge list screen, there is a new column to show the extra charge number. Not available on mobile apps. Thanks to Garth for the suggestion.

Inspection Work Order Photos

Posted on October 10, 2023
When completing a property inspection, there is the ability to create new work orders directly on the inspection results screen. This saves time going backwards and forwards between the inspection screen and the work orders screen.

This has now been enhanced further with the ability to also take a photo and attach it to the newly created work orders.

When the photo is taken, 2 copies of the photo will be created. The first copy will be attached to the inspection itself. The second will be attached to the work order.

As shown in the images below for both mobile and desktop, a new button labelled 'Take Photo for this Work Order' now exists below each new work order being created. Therefore if you are creating multiple work orders, you can attach the new photo to the correct work order.

How to add photos to a work order on a mobile phone in RentHQ How to add photos to a work order on the desktop in RentHQ

This functionality is not available in off-line mode.
Thanks to Marian for the suggestion.

Changes to tenancy agreement additional clauses

Posted on October 3, 2023
All of the tenancy agreements you can generate through RentHQ has the ability for you to add your own additional clauses. Up until now, you would need to copy and paste these each time a new agreement is created.

This has now been changed.

When you create an agreement for the first time for a property, the additional clauses will default to the clauses save with the last agreement created, regardless of which property that agreement was for.

When you then go to generate another agreement for the same property, it will default to the last clauses saved for that specific property.

In other words it will first attempt to use the clauses previously use for the same property, and failing that it will use the last clauses used for any property.

Thanks to Garth and Nicola for the suggestion and feedback.

Share Your RentHQ Ideas or Support Others

Posted on September 29, 2023
At RentHQ, I am committed to making this the best property management software tool available. To achieve this goal, I invite all users to actively participate in shaping the future of our platform by offering their valuable feedback.

To facilitate this collaborative effort, we have launched a brand-new "Suggestions" web page. This web page enables you to contribute your own ideas on how RentHQ can be enhanced to better serve your needs. It also allows you to browse and endorse suggestions made by other users. Your endorsements serve as a clear signal to us about the priority of specific improvements.

Sharing your thoughts is easy – simply complete our online suggestion form with areas in which you believe RentHQ could perform better for you. Whether it's a minor annoyance or a significant enhancement, we genuinely want to hear from you about any aspect that can be improved.

You can access the Suggestion webpage by following this link:
https://www.renthq.net/suggestions

Join us in shaping the future of RentHQ. Let's make it an even more valuable tool for everyone. Your feedback is the driving force behind our continuous improvement efforts. Thank you for being a part of our journey.

Inspection Photo Counts: A Closer Look

Posted on September 27, 2023
Have you ever been curious about how many photos property managers or landlords typically take during an average inspection? To satisfy my own curiosity, I delved into the RentHQ data and conducted a sample analysis. In the graph below, I've plotted the data, with the horizontal axis representing the average number of photos taken per inspection, and the vertical axis indicating the number of RentHQ clients who capture that specific number of photos. Numbers are rounded up to the nearest 10 Graph showing inspection photo counts It's intriguing to observe that there are a few outliers who go above and beyond, taking well over 100 photos per inspection. Remarkably, the highest average goes up to an astonishing 157 photos per inspection. Conversely, the most popular category stands in stark contrast, with an average of fewer than 10 photos per inspection. Surprisingly, 40% of clients fall into this category, showing a preference for capturing minimal photos. Digging deeper, I found that a significant 90% of all clients take 50 photos or less on average. Moreover, half of all clients take less than 15 photos per inspection, indicating a general trend towards limited visual documentation. This data sheds light on the photo-taking habits of property managers and landlords, showcasing the diversity in their approach to inspection photography.