The Leases section lets you manage all rental agreements across your properties. Track lease terms, assign tenants, set charges, and monitor upcoming expirations — all in one place.
Leases Overview
Navigate to Leases from the sidebar to see all leases across your portfolio. Four KPI cards are displayed at the top:
| Metric | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Active Leases | Count of active leases and their percentage of all leases |
| Expiring Soon | Leases ending within the next 30 days |
| Monthly Revenue | Total monthly rent from active and renewed leases |
| Avg Lease Term | Average lease duration in months across active leases |
Filtering and Sorting
Filter tabs:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| All Leases | Every lease regardless of status |
| Draft | Leases created but not yet activated |
| Active | Currently active leases |
| Renewed | Leases that have been renewed |
| Ended | Expired or terminated leases |
Each tab shows a count of matching leases.
Sort options: Start date, End date, Property name, or Total charges.
Use the search bar to find leases by property name, unit name, tenant name, or status.
You can switch between Card View and Table View using the toggle buttons.
Lease Card Details
Each lease card shows:
- Status badge — Color-coded: Draft (orange), Active (green), Renewed (purple), Ended (red)
- Signed badge — Green checkmark if the lease is signed
- Property and unit names
- Term — "Fixed Term" or "Month-to-Month"
- Tenant count and names
- Rent / mo — Sum of rent charges
- All Charges — Total including deposits and fees
- Remaining — Days remaining or "Completed" if ended
- Progress bar — Visual indicator of how much lease time has elapsed
- Date range — Start and end dates
Creating a New Lease
Click Add Lease to open the 4-step lease creation form.
Step 1 — Select Property & Unit
| Field | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Property | Yes | Select from your properties |
| Unit | Yes | Select from available (unoccupied) units in the chosen property |
Step 2 — Lease Terms
| Field | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Start Date | Yes | When the lease begins (date picker) |
| End Date | Yes | When the lease expires (must be after start date) |
| Type | Yes | Toggle between Fixed Term and Month-to-Month |
| Is Signed | No | Toggle to indicate if the lease has been signed |
If the end date is before or equal to the start date, you'll see an error: "End date must be after start date."
Step 3 — Select Tenants
Search and select tenants from your existing contacts. Check the box next to each tenant to add them to the lease. You can add multiple tenants.
If you don't have any tenants yet, click the "Create a tenant here" link to open a quick-create dialog and add one immediately.
Step 4 — Rent & Fees
Add up to 3 charges per lease. Each charge has:
| Field | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Yes | Rent or Security Deposit |
| Frequency | Yes | One time, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly |
| Amount | Yes | Dollar amount (minimum $0) |
When you select Security Deposit as the category, the frequency is automatically set to One time and locked.
When you select Rent, the frequency defaults to Monthly but can be changed.
If you've added 3 charges, the Add Charge button disables with a message: "Maximum of 3 charges per lease."
Saving and Activating a Lease
After completing all steps, you have two options:
Save as Draft
Click Save Draft to save the lease without activating it. The lease gets a Draft (pending) status. You can come back and edit it later.
Activate the Lease
Click Activate Lease to make it active. Before activation, Rentto checks that:
- All required fields are filled
- At least 1 tenant is assigned
- At least 1 charge is added
If any requirement is unmet, a checklist shows what's missing. When a lease is activated:
- The status changes to Active
- Tenant records are created and linked to the property and unit
- This action cannot be undone
Lease Status Values
| Status | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Orange | Created but not yet activated — editable |
| Active | Green | Currently in effect — tenants are assigned |
| Renewed | Purple | Has been renewed for a new term |
| Ended | Red | Lease term is complete |
Renewing a Lease
When a lease is active or has been previously renewed, you can renew it:
- Open the lease detail view
- Click Renew Lease
- A confirmation dialog appears: "This will mark the current lease as renewed. You can then update the dates and terms for the new period."
- Click Renew Lease to confirm
- Update the start/end dates and charges as needed
- Click Save Draft to save the renewed lease
The lease status changes to Renewed (purple). You can renew a lease multiple times. Renewals do not create a separate lease record — the same lease is updated.
Ending a Lease
To terminate a lease:
- Open the lease detail view
- Click End Lease
- A confirmation dialog appears: "This will end the lease for X tenant(s) in [unit name]. This action cannot be undone."
- Click End Lease to confirm
The lease status changes to Ended (red). The progress bar shows "Completed" and the unit becomes available for a new lease.
Deleting a Lease
While editing a lease, click the Delete button. A confirmation dialog appears: "This will permanently remove this lease and all its data. This action cannot be undone."
Click Delete Lease to confirm. The lease and all associated data are permanently removed.
Lease Progress Bar
Each lease shows a progress bar indicating how much of the lease term has elapsed:
- 0% — Lease hasn't started yet (start date is in the future)
- 50% — Halfway through the lease term
- 100% — Lease has expired or ended
The bar is calculated as: (days elapsed / total days) × 100, capped between 0% and 100%.
Exporting Lease Data
Click Export to Excel from the leases list to download a spreadsheet with:
- Property and unit names
- Lease status and type
- Tenant names and count
- Monthly rent and total charges
- Start and end dates
- Days remaining
- Progress percentage
The export respects your current filters and search, so you can export just active leases, just expiring leases, etc.