Properties and Portfolios
The definition of your property units is a key part of
the information that the system manages for you.
The system allows you to define a structure or hierarchy
of properties and their units. So, for example, if you
have a house which is simply rented wholesale to a single
tenant then it would be defined as a standalone property.
However, if you had a property which consisted of 3 flats
then you could describe it as a top-level property which
contained 3 property units (one for each flat). In
addition, you can also record portfolios which group
properties or even other portfolios. Defining the
structure of portfolios and properties in this way allows
the system to provide summaries and functions for a
portfolio of properties, individual properties which
consist of multiple units or individual flats if you so
wish.
Property Unit Record
Each property unit has a main record which describes the
key attributes of the property. The main attributes are
displayed on the Property Details tab:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Address |
Clearly, the address of a property is a key
attribute that must be described to the system. In
particular, it's important to specify a valid
postcode as it is used for a number of other useful
functions, such as displaying the property on the
map, helping you find a valuation, etc. |
| Display As |
The display label for the property unit used in
other parts of the system. The value must be unique
for all your property units.
When you create a new property unit record, the
Display As value will default to the first two
lines of the address. See the tips below on
different ways of recording the Display As value to make it easier to
find property units in the application.
|
| Type of Property |
The type of property, e.g. House, Flat, etc. |
Furnishing
|
The
default level of furnishing supplied with the
property unit. This can be overridden for
individual adverts or tenancies. |
| Can be rented? |
Whether or not the property unit can be rented. If
this is not checked then it will not be possible to
create new tenancies against this particular
property unit, though it will be possible to create
tenancies against sub-units if they are marked as
rentable. |
| Part of Property Unit |
The containing portfolio or property unit, if any.
If, for example, the property unit was a flat then
you may want to assign the house property unit as
the containing one. |
Picture
|
A picture of your
property. Use the links below the picture to choose
or upload an image file to use as the picture of
your property unit.
|
The Additional Details tab is used to record a number of
areas of detail for the property unit. This part of the
dialog displays a number of additional sub-tabs for each
individual area of detail:
The Management sub-tab is used to specify details
of who owns or who manages the property:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Agent |
The management agent for the property unit. Choose
this from your list of suppliers, or, alternatively,
click on the icon to record a new agent. |
| Fee |
The percentage fee that the management
agent charges on rent income.
|
Landlord
|
The owner of the property unit. Choose this from your list of landlords, or, alternatively, click on the
icon to record a new landlord. |
The management information recorded against the property unit applies
not only against the directly assigned property unit but also to all
sub-units, though it can be overridden for a sub-unit if necessary.
Conversely, the section at the bottom of the Management tab shows the
effective management information for the current property unit.
The details specified on the Management tab are
used as defaults for management fees when recording rent
income. See the Income and
Expenditure help for further details.
The Purchase Details sub-tab is used to record information
about the purchase of the property unit:
| Attribute |
Description |
Purchase Date
|
The date the property was purchased.
|
| Purchase Price |
The amount paid for the property.
|
| Floor Area |
The total floor area of the property unit. |
| Price for each unit of floor area |
By default, this is automatically calculated as the purchase
price divided by the floor area. However, the value can also be explicitly
provided if desired.
|
Number of Owners
|
The number of
individuals who own a share of the property.
|
Ownership Share
|
The share of the
property owned by yourself.
|
Solicitor
|
The solicitor used
when purchasing the property. Choose this from your
list of suppliers, or, alternatively, click on the
icon to create
a new supplier record to use as the solicitor. |
The Construction/Layout sub-tab is used to record the
following information about the property unit:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Year of Construction |
The year the property was constructed. |
| No of Floors |
The number of floors the property unit contains.
|
| No of Bedrooms |
The number of bedrooms the property unit contains.
|
| No of Garage Parking Spaces |
The number of parking spaces within a garage available
to the property unit. |
| No of Outside Parking Spaces |
The
number of outside parking spaces available to the
property unit. |
| No of Smoke/Heat
Detectors |
The
number of smoke or heat detectors in the property
unit. |
| Security Alarm? |
Whether or not the property unit is protected by a security alarm. |
The Marketing sub-tab is used to record default
information to use when advertising the property unit.
| Attribute |
Description |
| Advert Description |
The default description to use for new adverts.
|
| Bills Payable |
The bills that are payable by tenants of the property
unit. |
| Occupants |
The number of
occupants that would normally rent the property
unit.
|
The Display Settings sub-tab is used to specify how the property unit is displayed within SmartPropertyManager.
| Attribute |
Description |
| Display on chart? | Whether or not the value history for the property
unit should be displayed within the Portfolio Value
Chart on the Properties page. |
| Display on map? | Whether or not the property unit should be
displayed within the map on the Properties page.
|
Address for map
|
An alternative address to use when displaying the
property unit on the map. By default this is the address from the
Property Details tab.
|
The Value History tab is used to record the value of the property at different
points in time.
The Image Gallery tab provides a convenient way to view the images that have been
attached to the property unit. The images are displayed as a grid of thumbnails.
If you click on a thumbnail, the image is shown in more detail.
Tips:
- When you create a new property unit record, the
Display As value will default to the first two
lines of the address. However, many of our
customers use abbreviated codes for the Display As setting in order to
make it easier to find related property units, e.g. consider the address
'30 Manor Road' which contains 3 flats. This could be set up as:
- 30MR-1, 30MR-2, 30MR-3
- 30.1, 30.2, 30.3
Property Unit Management
Items
As well as the main property unit details, you can record
and track a number of different types of management item
against each property unit:
- Insurance Policies
- Inspections
- Scheduled Maintenance Items
When you edit a property unit the additional tabs for the
management items will become enabled. For each management
item you can record the following details:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Type |
The type of insurance policy (e.g. Buildings,
Contents, etc.) or inspection (e.g. Gas Safety,
Energy Performance, etc.) |
| Supplier |
The supplier |
| Reference |
The supplier's reference. For an insurance policy
this would be the policy number. For a Gas Safety
inspection this would be the certificate number. |
Valid From
Valid To |
The date range for which the policy/certificate is
valid. |
| Remind me before expiry? |
Whether or not to automatically remind you when
the item needs renewing. This will default to on for
any items which expire in the future. |
| Display Name |
A name to use for display purposes only. |
| Notes |
Any additional notes you wish to record against
the item. |
Automatic Reminders
When a management item has been marked as requiring a
reminder on expiry, the system will track the item and
will automatically create a task for you a month before
the expiry date. For Premium or Enterprise Edition users,
the generated task will be assigned to the primary user
for the company.
Attachments
The Attachments link at the top of the dialog displays
the file attachments that are stored against the property
unit. For further details see the attachments help topic.
Portfolio Record
A portfolio is a special kind of property unit and has
the following attributes:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Display As |
The display label for the property unit used in
other parts of the system. The value must be unique
for all your property units.
When you create a new property unit record, the
Display As value will default to the first two
lines of the address. However, you can use an
alternative convention if you so wish. For
example: Flat 2 at 30 Manor Road, could be
displayed as 'Flat 2, 30 Manor Road', or
alternatively, a shorter convention to follow may
be '30MR-2'.
|
| Part of Portfolio |
The containing portfolio, if any. Portfolios can
either be top-level or nested within other
portfolios. |
The Management sub-tab is used to specify details
of who owns or who manages the portfolio:
| Attribute |
Description |
| Agent |
The management agent for the portfolio. Choose
this from your list of suppliers, or, alternatively,
click on the icon to record a new agent. |
| Fee |
The percentage fee that the management
agent charges on rent income.
|
Landlord
|
The owner of the portfolio. Choose this from your list of landlords, or, alternatively, click on the
icon to record a new landlord. |
The management information recorded against the portfolio applies
not only against the directly assigned property unit but also to all
sub-units, though it can be overridden for a sub-unit if necessary.
Conversely, the section at the bottom of the Management tab shows the
effective management information for the current portfolio.
The details specified on the Management tab are
used as defaults for management fees when recording rent
income. See the Income and
Expenditure help for further details.
Invoice Settings
The Invoice Settings tab allows you to manage the default settings of invoices
tenancies under this portfolio:
| Attribute |
Description |
Payment Terms
|
A text box where you can define the default payment terms for invoices.
|
Currency
|
The default currency to use for invoices.
|
Days Due
|
The default number of days before invoices are due.
If no value is specified, the system defaults to 14 days.
|
The default settings defined for a portfolio will override the settings defined
for your overall business through the
Business Setup dialog.
Properties Page
The Properties page shows details of all the property
units that you have defined and also allows you to edit or
delete them. The page can be accessed using the Properties
link in the top menu bar.
At the top of the page is a tree view showing your
property units. Below the tree view is a map showing the
geographical locations of your property units. The map can
be switched to display a chart showing the historical
values of your property units.
Properties Map
The properties map is an integrated Google widget and
provides many useful functions. Here are a couple of
examples you can try:
To find services near one of your properties:
- Click on the name of the property within the list to
the right of the map. This focuses the map on the
property.
- Type the name of the service you wish to find in the
search box at the bottom of the map - for example, type
'dry cleaner', and then click on the Search button to
the right of the search box.
- The map will display the nearest businesses offering
the service.
You can easily find directions to your property, which is
very useful when, for example, guiding new or prospective
tenants to the property:
- Click on the name of the property within the list to
the right of the map. This focuses the map on the
property.
- Click on the link 'Directions: To here' in the pop-up
bubble.
- Specify the place from which you want directions and
click on the Get Directions button.
- A new window will display showing the directions. You
can print or email the directions from this window.
Properties Value History Chart
This chart shows the history of your property values over
time. You can enter details of your property values
through the Value History tab of the property unit dialog.
Note that you will need a minimum of 2 years worth of
values in order for the chart to display anything
meaningful.
Creating a New Property Unit
To create a new property unit record, click on the Properties
link at the top of the page and then use the Record
New Property Unit link on the left-hand side of the
page to register the appropriate details. Alternatively,
if you wish to create a main property unit along with a
number of sub-units (for example, a house and a set of
flats it contains), then use the link Record New
Property Unit with Sub-Units.
The dialog for creating a new property unit contains the
basic attributes as described in the Property Unit Record
section above. Make sure to specify a full and proper
address (including a valid postcode) in order for your
property units to display correctly within the Properties
page map.
Property Accounts
Once a property unit has been defined then you can record
tenancies, tenancy income and expenditure against it. You
can then view its property accounts, showing summaries of
the income recorded against the property and expenditure
paid on behalf of the property for each financial period.
If the property unit contains other property units then
the property account includes details of income and
expenditure for them also.
To view a Property Account, find the property in the
Property Units section of the home dashboard and click on
it. Alternatively, find the property unit in the tree view
of the Properties page and click on it.
At the top of the property account are a set of fields
which allow you to switch property unit or to switch
financial period, thereby showing different property
accounts. It's also possible to specify an explicit date
range instead of a financial period.
The property account contains the following main
sections:
- Summary: Showing the property details, the financial
period details and summary income, expenditure and
balance.
- Rent Income Details: Showing the tenancies for which
there have been income at the property for the financial
period in question. For each tenancy this section shows
the total amount paid during the financial period. Note
that a property account is always restricted to a single
financial period (or explicit date range). If you wish
to see all income records for a tenancy then go to its
tenancy balance page.
- Expenditure Details: Showing the expenditure incurred
on the property during the financial period in question.
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