What to Document at Every Stage of a Lease

If it is not in the file, it did not happen. That is the standard we use, because memory is a bad witness. AppFolio holds most of this. Paper that never got uploaded might as well be blank.

• Application, screening result, and the criteria it was judged against
• Lease, addenda, and any HOA rules the resident received
• Move-in photos and the condition form
• Rent ledger, including late notices
• Maintenance requests, approvals, and invoices
• Renewal offers and the answer
• Move-out photos, deposit itemization, and the date it was sent

Owners can see the financial half in the portal. The rest is there when a dispute needs it. Read owner resources for how to log in, or contact the office if the email on the account is old.

If it is not in the file, it did not happen

Memory is a bad witness. AppFolio holds most of the file on houses we manage. Paper that never got uploaded might as well be blank. At application, keep the application, the screening result, and the criteria it was judged against. A pass or fail with no criteria is an argument waiting for a fair-housing question. At lease signing, keep the lease, the addenda, and any HOA rules the resident received. If the resident did not receive the rule, you will have a hard time enforcing it in month three.

Move-in photos and a condition form are the deposit case. Take them before the resident has lived there long enough to blur the record, and keep them where you can find them a year later. The rent ledger, including late notices, shows what was owed and what was paid. Maintenance requests, approvals, and invoices show what was fixed and what the owner agreed to spend. Renewal offers and the answer belong in the file even when the answer is no, because the dates matter if a notice period is disputed.

Move-out photos, the deposit itemization, and the date it was sent close the file. Owners can see the financial half in the portal without calling. The rest is there when a dispute needs it. We do not keep a shadow set of books in email. If you are taking over a house mid-lease, we will ask for the current lease, the deposit amount, and the condition notes before we agree to manage it. We will not guess. Read owner resources for the login, or contact the office if the email on the account is old.