Bringing In a Tenancy That Has Already Started

Some leases reach you halfway through: you take over management from another agency, or you start using TenancyDesk for a tenancy you already run. The tenant already lives there and part of the rent has already been paid. This article shows how to record such a lease without sending the tenant or the owner reminders for money they settled long ago.

When to use this

Use it when the lease started before today and the tenant has already moved in. For a new letting, where the tenant has not moved in yet, create the deal as usual.

If you enter a lease start date before today, the deal form reminds you: "The lease starts before today. If the tenant already lives there, tick this."

Step 1: Mark the deal as an existing tenancy

In the deal form, under Lease Terms, tick This tenancy has already started.

You can change this only while the deal is a draft. Once the past payments are confirmed, the deal stays an existing tenancy.

Step 2: Create the payment schedule from the contract

On the deal's Payments tab, press Create Schedule and enter the schedule exactly as the contract states it, from the lease start date. For an existing tenancy the first payment date may be in the past, but not before the lease starts.

A schedule that would bill more rent than the contract is refused.

Step 3: Confirm the past payments

At the top of the deal page you will see Existing tenancy — nothing has been sent to the tenant or the owner. Press Confirm past payments. The list shows every unpaid payment dated before today, and each one must be decided:

• It was received. Close the list, open the payment, press Mark as Paid and enter the day the money actually came in Payment received on.
• It was not received. Tick it in the list. It stays owed by the tenant.

When every past payment is decided, press Confirm and notify from now on.

An Agent, Team Lead, Manager or Admin can confirm; a Property Administrator cannot. The confirmation, together with the payments declared not received, is recorded in the audit log.

Until you confirm: nothing reaches the tenant or the owner

While the deal waits for confirmation:

• no email, WhatsApp or SMS about this deal goes to the tenant or the owner, and nothing is added to their portals;
• neither portal shows the deal. In the owner's portal the property shows as Being set up, not as vacant;
• TenancyDesk refuses the actions that would reach them: a portal invitation, a legal notice sent by email or WhatsApp, a WhatsApp template message, an owner payout and a lease renewal. A notice served by registered mail or through a notary is not affected;
• your own team still receives its alerts and tasks.

Messages held during this time are not saved for later: they are not sent after you confirm either.

After you confirm

From then on the deal works like any other: the tenant and the owner receive the usual notifications, and you can invite them to their portals.

No automatic reminder goes out for a payment that was already past due when the schedule was created. Follow those up with the tenant yourself.

Bringing in many tenancies at once

On the Enterprise plan, Settings → Bulk Import/Export also imports deals. For a lease that is already running, put existing in the tenancy_origin column. Each imported existing tenancy then waits for its past payments to be confirmed, as described above.